


A Game Called Madness

by SuPaTwEaK (lily_was_here)



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: AU Saiyan history, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Sex, Canon-Typical Violence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Smut, F/M, Hidden Powers, Imperfect Cell, Jealousy, Love/Hate, Obsession, Obsessive Behavior, Perfect Cell - Freeform, Power Couple, Revelations, Rough Sex, Saiyan Culture, Saiyan babies, Saiyans, Semi Perfect Cell, Sexual Content, Sexual Humor, Sexual Tension, Some Humor, Super Saiyan, Swearing, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tolerating each other, Unhealthy Relationships, Violence, bad influence, love to hate, saiyan royalty, these tags are a mess, transformations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-08-13 12:16:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20174110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lily_was_here/pseuds/SuPaTwEaK
Summary: No one is of any value to the powerful android if they cannot keep him entertained. After a small encounter with a mysterious girl in Nicky Town, Cell is left wanting more. It is this that eventually begins the great game between them.Surely when she asked for more excitement in her life, she never meant this.





	1. Chapter 1

~_GROWL_~

“Ugh I’m so hungry,” Dani groaned as she floated up in the air with her tail wrapped comfortably around her waist. “There must be a city around here somewhere,” she murmured as she looked around and successfully spotted a town nearby. “Hang in there, mommy needs you!” she addressed her stomach as she took off towards the town.

She landed near the ‘Welcome to Nicky Town’ sign and sought out a place to eat. Her sights landed upon a buffet down the road and off she went to begin her feast.

Once she had eaten her fill, she watched the TV overhead when gunshots could be heard echoing from the outside accompanied by the faint screams of people out in the distance. Everyone in the building went dead silent as she wandered outside, curiosity getting the better of her. It was completely silent which was most unusual considering the town had been so lively when she arrived not that long ago.

More gunshots sounded in the distance. She couldn’t help but get a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and she knew it wasn’t the food. The faint sound of cries for help and people shouting getting closer and louder didn’t help.

Suddenly, many screaming people came into view as they appeared to be running away from a certain part of town. Her curiosity beat out her better judgement as she flew up and over to where the people were coming from. By then she could hear no more gunshots. Hovering above the town, her eyes widened at what she saw.

Scattered throughout the ground were the clothing of people, yet not a single person was in sight. She touched down on the streets to get a better look at the clothing. There were no traces of people yet each set of clothing had a similar tear-like puncture.

This was getting weird.

She snapped out of her thoughts when gunshots sounded from the direction of the buffet, only this time the gunshots and screaming didn’t last long as everything quickly went eerily quiet. She immediately flew back and was disturbed to find more clothing on the floor yet again no signs of the people. Okay this was getting _really_ weird.

She flew above the town in search of any life but found none. Then out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she spotted something below. Touching down she was unfortunately only met with more sets of clothes.

“Well would you look at that, it seems as though I missed one,” a raspy voice chuckled.

That… did not sound good. She slowly turned and was face to face with what she assumed to be the creature responsible for the events transpiring. Suddenly on edge, she jumped back to get some distance between that thing. When she noticed its tail, she assumed that’s what had made those holes. Now she was most certain this thing was the one responsible… whatever the hell it was.

“Can I help you?” she slowly asked, not liking how this thing just kept staring at her.

It just stared at her with those slit-like eyes. Almost like a predator eying its prey…

“What a coincidence that I find you here, my dear. With your life energy, I can attain full power,” he said.

It was weird. She didn’t exactly favor suffering the same outcome as the rest of the townspeople but if anything, she was more confused than terrified at the moment.

“My what? Life energy? Full power? I don’t have the slightest idea as to what you’re talking about. But you’re the one responsible for this, aren’t you?”

The creature eyed her, amused at her air of indifference and lack of fear towards him. Everyone else would have ran already, yet here she stood.

“Indeed I am. My name is Cell, and I absorbed all of these people’s life energy as a means to increase my own power. And as I was saying earlier, you appear to have more than enough for me to achieve my full power.”

What the hell? So, he just killed all these people for the sake of his own being? And now he wanted to absorb her too? Like hell he would.

“Now my dear, do stay put and this will be over before you know it,” he said as he began to walk towards her with that creepy tail and stinger right behind him. “Prepare to be a part of something far greater than you could ever imagine!” he called out as his stinger shot out directly at her.

She managed to jump back as it created a hole in the concrete.

“Whoa what the fu-”

“Hmm, you are fast my dear, but are you fast enough?” he exclaimed as he charged at her with an array of kicks and punches.

Man this guy was fast! She was just barely able to physically block, or dodge each of his attacks. He was powerful, but every time they came into contact, she could feel much more power than he was letting on against her. She needed an opening, the slightest break to give herself the chance to slip through and get the hell out of there. But first she needed to regain herself a bit. She continued to defend until she got an opening and landed a direct kick to the side of his head causing his head to snap to the side. She jumped back a few feet to make some distance between them and catch her breath.

She couldn’t exactly make out his expression due to the shape of his face, but she could clearly see his eyes. His head was still to the side and his eyes, she could see them gleaming… almost as if in amusement.

Throughout the array of punches and kicks, her tail had slipped from around her waist and was now behind her. He turned his head back towards her and that’s when his eyes fixed upon her tail. Oho how things were now getting interesting.

“A Saiyan, huh? My, now you are even worth more in absorbing into my being!” he chuckled.

“A what? A Saiyan? I don’t have the slightest idea as to what you’re talking about,” she eyed him cautiously. “Is that- is that some type of slur? Did you just insult me or something? I don’t…”

“You… You mean you don’t know what a Saiyan is?” Now this was a surprise. Things were getting even more interesting for him. Oh how he could just imagine the power he would gain if he absorbed a Saiyan!

His stinger shot out towards her once again in an array of strikes as he continued to push her back. She continued to dodge until her back met with the hard surface of the building. Crap! Here came the stinger! She JUST managed to duck as his tail shot through the building and made it collapse. With his tail still through the building, she delivered a swift kick to his jaw and took off to the skies.

That was way too close, she thought as she looked back without stopping. She had to get as far away from there as possible! She turned back forward and immediately stopped. Her eyes widened as her face was inches away from his. Those eyes of his, they were smirking at her.

“You know my dear, in all of this fun, I never seemed to have gotten your name,” he said with his arms crossed across his chest.

“Dani,” was all she was able to spit out in her state of shock and disbelief that he could move so fast.

“Dani,” he repeated in that raspy voice. “Nice to meet you Dani!” he exclaimed as he slammed his tail to her side and sent her flying to the Earth below.

She groaned out in pain as she crashed into a playground set in the park they had been hovering over.

“Mother fu-owww,” she groaned out in pain, forcing herself to sit partly up as she saw him touch down on the grass.

He let out an evil chuckle as he approached her. “As much fun this has been, it is quite unfortunate that it must end.”

Expecting his stinger to shoot out at her again, Dani was surprised when three shots of energy hit Cell from out of nowhere causing him to stagger back and away from her.

“Gah!” Cell grunted.

Someone had landed, no, it sounded like more than one person. Cell now had his back to her but that stinger was still hovering above her.

“Why hello there boys,” Cell greeted. “Quite rude of you to drop in while I’m dealing with someone,” he glanced back at Dani.

“Cell! Let her go!” Piccolo demanded as he and his three companions took a stance.

“Why would I do that Piccolo? She looks so delicious, I could just absorb her!” he let out an evil laugh as his stinger shot straight at her.

“NO!” they all called out as Dani’s sharp cry of pain sounded. Dani was crying out in pain, yet Cell was growling in frustration.

“Hey wait!” Krillin exclaimed.

“Look!” Trunks called out as the dust settled.

Upon further inspection, Cell’s stinger was caught in the ground and Dani was laying a little ways away holding what appeared to be her bloody right side. She had moved out of the way once again, but not fast enough for her side was cut in the process. Damn that thing cut her like a knife through butter. Well, she supposed it could have been worse.

“QUICK! GET HIM!” Piccolo ordered. “Krillin, Trunks, get the girl to safety. Tien and I will deal with Cell, now go!”

“Alright!”

Tien and Piccolo attacked Cell and lured him away from Dani so that Trunks and Krillin could get to her.

Trunks bent down and carefully grabbed Dani while Krillin kept a lookout on the battle.

“Uh, Krillin,” Trunks began quite uncertainly as he held Dani.

“Yeah?” Krillin turned around only to widen his eyes. “I-is that. A tail?”

“I think so,” Trunks replied.

“But I thought that only Saiyans had brown bushy tails like that!”

“I thought so too.”

“TRUNKS. KRILLIN. GET OUT OF HERE!” Piccolo hollered.

“No time to ponder about it, we gotta go!” Krillin said as they took off.

Dani had one hand holding her side while the other wrapped around Trunk’s neck so she could steady herself. As they were flying away, Dani looked over Trunk’s shoulder and her eyes locked with Cell’s. She faintly smirked and gave him her lucky middle finger salute. She could see the emotion in his eyes. That sure got to him. He was about to charge after the trio but Piccolo and Tien blocked his way which seemed to anger him even more.

_Looks like I will be living after all. Suck on that, Cell._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love me some big green bug baddie. I’ve been lingering around here a lot lately so I figured I’d eventually carry some stuff over and share this will yall as well.


	2. Chapter 2

_Damn that Cell!_ Dani thought as she held her side, the strong, stinging sensation becoming quite unbearable. She never anticipated the tip of Cell’s stinger to be so sharp that it would slice her side up like butter.

Trunks could feel Dani flinching and holding her wound so he suggested to Krillin that they land for a few minutes so they could temporarily do something about the wound. They landed in a lush, green, mountainous area so they could use their surroundings as a form of cover.

“Are you alright Miss?” Trunks asked, helping Dani down.

“Yeah, this is nothing,” she said as she checked her wound. Oh god it felt as if he had scooped out a piece of her side. The bleeding had stopped but her clothes seemed to have soaked up all the blood. Great now she was in need of new clothes.

“I’m Trunks and this is Krillin.”

“Um, Dani.”

“So Dani, why was Cell after you?” Krillin asked.

“I have absolutely no idea. He started yapping about life energy and full power and some stuff about perfection. He also called me a Saiyan- whatever that is- and then started attacking me.”

Trunks and Krillin glanced at each other when she said Saiyan. The tail swaying behind her seemed to be more than enough proof. But even if it were to be true and she actually was a Saiyan, she obviously had no knowledge about it. But how was that even possible? Then again, Goku didn’t know he was a Saiyan until Raditz had arrived on Earth.

“That monster,” Trunks clenched his fist. “Just feeding on the innocent!”

“We should probably get going. We wouldn’t want to risk him coming after us,” Krillin said as he tried to focus in on the battle.

“Right.”

* * *

Cell growled in frustration as Piccolo and Tien blocked his way. He clenched his fists. He couldn’t sense them anymore which meant either they were too far away or they had begun to suppress their energies. Either way, he was not happy about it, especially after that little gesture Dani had given him. The fact that she got away from him frustrated him as well. NO ONE got away from him! He was the mighty Cell and no one escaped him!

Oh she would pay dearly. But first he had to deal with these two bothersome pests.

“What’s your business with the girl Cell?” Piccolo demanded.

“We were merely getting to know each other Piccolo,” Cell said and shrugged nonchalantly. “But seeing as how you’ve interrupted us, I’ll just have to find her and settle this unfinished business of ours _privately_.”

“You’re not going anywhere Cell!” Piccolo growled.

“Oh on the contrary Piccolo,” Cell chuckled, “I think I am!”

Cell flew up towards the sky directly in front of the sun then turned to face Piccolo and Tien. He put his hands next to his face and used the Solar Flare attack, blinding his assailants.

“No! Damn it!” Piccolo hollered as he and Tien struggled to see.

By the time their vision was back to normal, Cell was nowhere in sight! He managed to get away once again!

“CELL! YOU COWARD! GET BACK HERE!”

And what was even more frustrating was that he was suppressing his energy again, so it was back to the beginning. It seemed like they had no other choice but to return to Kame House.

* * *

Trunks and Krillin addressed the issue of her blood-stained clothes and injury first, so they decided to take her to Capsule Corp before regrouping at Kame House.

At Capsule Corp, Dani got her wound all cleaned and bandaged up, Bulma had given her new clothes, and Trunks and Krillin filled Dani in on the details of who exactly Cell was. From what they knew about Cell, Trunks figured that if Cell didn’t know who Dani was then his being probably didn’t contain any of her cells. Cell was probably not happy at all about one of his victims managing to escape him so they figured it probably wouldn’t be best to simply leave her on her own. It just wouldn’t be safe especially with her being a Saiyan. They wouldn’t want Cell absorbing such a life energy considering Saiyans naturally had high life energies to begin with.

“We should be heading back to Master Roshi’s place now.”

“Yeah,” Trunks nodded in agreement. “Say Dani, we think it’d be best that you stick with us so that if Cell were to come after you, we’d be right there.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dani shrugged. “I don’t really want to deal with him again and I don’t know about you, but he seemed pretty pissed when we left.”

“Exactly, just thinking about that creep gives me goosebumps,” Krillin shuddered. “Anyways, let’s go guys, and um, Dani.”

And so they took off towards Kame House. After cleaning up and bandaging her wound, Dani was able to move on her own so she didn’t need Krillin or Trunk’s help. After a while of flying they finally touched down on a small island with a single house labeled Kame House. Krillin introduced Dani to everyone and filled them in on the details on what happened and how they came across her. Shortly after, Trunks took off saying that he was going to go train with his father.

It wasn’t long for Piccolo and Tien to arrive.

“Seems like Cell has added a new target to his list,” Piccolo growled as he sat down and crossed his arms over his chest.

Dani knew he was referring to her as she sat across from Piccolo.

“What happened before we got there?” he asked.

“I’ve never seen him before in my life.” She went on to explain everything that had happened from when she arrived at Nicky Town to her encounter with Cell.

Piccolo growled, tapping his fingers on his arm. First Goku gets sick with the heart disease, then the androids appear, then Cell appears, then Cell reveals he needs to absorb the androids to achieve perfection and power like no other, and now not only did Cell want the androids but also Dani as well? Things just couldn’t get any worse.

They turned on the TV and reports of Cell’s doings were all over the news. Great. That’s when Yamcha suggested that they try and locate Cell using a plane rather than flying, that way they could keep their energies low so Cell wouldn’t be able to sense them and make an escape. It wasn’t much of an idea but damn it, it was better than doing absolutely nothing while that damn Cell was on the loose.

“I’m going too,” Dani said. “If what you say is true and Cell ends up coming after me, I wouldn’t want to put the people here in any danger.”

Weighing out the pros and cons, Piccolo reluctantly agreed.

And so they took off to the skies in search of Cell. While they were in the plane, Dani asked Krillin if he could tell her about Saiyans seeing as how he and Trunks called her one earlier and she didn’t want to be out of the loop any longer.

“Oh, um Saiyans, well-” Krillin began timidly when Piccolo interrupted.

“The Saiyans were a race of fighting warriors that once served under an evil tyrant. They would scour the universe for planets that would bring a high price in the Galactic Market and then clear them and ready them for sale.”

“That sounds awful. We’re a race of fighting warriors?”

“I guess you can say they were all wiped out save for a handful such as Gohan here and his father Goku, Trunks and his father Vegeta, and yourself.”

“What about Turles, Broly and his father?” Krillin questioned.

“We disposed of Turles, and Broly is none of our concern,” Piccolo answered.

“Oh, right.”

Considering her tail and her age being closer to that of Goku, Piccolo estimated that she was a full-blooded Saiyan. One of the last along with Goku and Vegeta. What he didn’t understand was why was she sent to Earth when Goku had already been sent. And if she were younger than Goku, how was that even possible considering Frieza had wiped out mostly all Saiyans along with their planet in one move.

Meanwhile, Dani was still trying to wrap her mind about being part of a nearly extinct race of fighting warriors. It was strange. In some regards it explained some things about her, but in others it opened more questions.

“We’ve got a real problem on our hands,” Tien sighed. “If we look for Cell, then what of the androids and their search for Goku? If we look for the androids, then Cell will continue absorbing people. But if Cell gets to those androids first, then it might be the end for us all.”

“If only Goku were here,” Krillin clenched his fist. “He’d know what to do!”

Dani was staring off into space, deep in thought. Cell could suppress his energy and these androids had no energy signatures at all, so either way neither could be sensed. If they were to deal with Cell then they would have to take care of the androids first, that way they would eliminate the possibility of him ever becoming complete. But at the same time, they couldn’t just ignore Cell and what he was doing.

“Dani? Dani are you alright?” Gohan questioned.

“I think I have an idea,” she said slowly, _unsurely_, snapping out of her thoughts.

“What do you suggest?” Piccolo wondered, glancing down at her.

Dani was about to say something she REALLY didn’t want to say but there was no other choice. “Let me go after Cell,” she said slowly, not meeting their widened eyes of surprise from her suggestion.

“Are you out of your mind?” Krillin questioned. “You heard what Piccolo said. If you go then Cell will most likely end up getting you!”

“Exactly,” she said.

“Wait, what?” Krillin wondered, confusion etched on his face along with everyone else on the plane.

“If I go now, Cell will surely sense my energy and pursue me to get even with me. While that happens, you guys go to where the androids will most likely look for Goku and deal with them then.”

“So what you’re saying is that you’ll lure Cell away in order for us to deal with the androids and prevent him from achieving perfection?” Piccolo questioned, glancing down at her smaller form.

“Yes,” she nodded.

“Alright,” he agreed.

“But Piccolo-” Gohan and Krillin protested.

“That’s, unfortunately, the best thing we can do right now.” Worst case scenario, one Saiyan absorbed was still less of a threat than two androids.

“Wish me luck guys,” she waved as Yamcha opened one of the doors and she took off. Little did she know that Goku would soon appear in the plane she had just departed from.

* * *

Dani groaned as she flew in search of Cell. She had been flying for a while now with no clues at all as to where that damned bug-faced freak could be hiding. Beginning to lose her patience, she began to raise her power level figuring it’d be much easier to bring him to her.

She abruptly stopped and flew down into a mountainous area to hide where she then suppressed her energy. She continued on flying again but this time preferring to stay close to the ground.

* * *

He was finishing up absorbing the bio extracts of the people he had terrorized when suddenly he felt a surge in a familiar power. He chuckled darkly to himself.

“So she has finally decided to come out and play! What a wonderful woman, she even saved me the trouble of having to search any more for her!”

It was a sudden surge then it completely disappeared. He chuckled, easily remembering the direction from which it had come from. Excitedly, he took off for her whether she was ready for him or not.

* * *

She had been moving like this for quite a while when she decided to raise her power level again. When she felt that familiar energy approaching, she froze. So it had worked after all and he was making sure she knew he was on his way. Good. Now to get the hell out of there before he spotted her! She kept on going as fast as she could while keeping her energy as low as possible.

She was in a heavily wooded area when his energy seemed to have just completely disappeared. ‘I swear to god if he suppressed it,’ she thought as she leaned against a tree for a quick breather.

“I know you’re here, my dear!” he called out from above.

“Damn it!” she muttered, pressing her back against the tree. And here she was hoping that she wouldn’t have to confront him.

“There’s no point in running or hiding when I know where you are!”

Ha_, _if he knew where she was then he would have – holy crap what happened to the top of the tree? She looked up to see that the top of the tree she was hiding under had been blasted from above.

Ho boy there he was! Looking down at her with that damned gleam in his eyes.

“Why, there you are, my dear,” he said with his arms crossed over his chest as he touched down on the soft grass. “Quite a nice game we’re playing, isn’t it?”

“I don’t ever recall us playing a game,” she said slowly, keeping sight of his tail as it swayed behind him.

“Is that so? That’s quite unfortunate because-” He was in front of her within an instant, immediately catching her off guard. “I do!”


	3. Chapter 3

“Damn!” she muttered as he kneed her in the gut then whirled around and slammed his tail into her side, sending her flying into some trees. She slowly got onto her hands and knees, thinking about her possible options.

She was supposed to stall him so that everyone else had more time to look for the androids. She could either: a) charge straight for him, b) risk playing a game of hide-and-go-seek with him, or c) let him knock her around a bit. Well, considering how strong and powerful he is, if she were to charge at him she would most likely end up getting knocked back down so options A and C pretty much tied in to one another. So B it was! Now how exactly to go about it…

He took his time walking over to her. No matter what she did, it would all end the same. She was still on her hands and knees when he noticed her, laughing? But why would she be laughing?

That’s when she slowly got back up with her back still to him and dusted herself off. She glanced over her shoulder at him with a big grin on her face. Just what was she doing? She bent over slightly then patted her rear.

“Kiss my ass!”

She flipped him off then disappeared.

“WHAT! Why that little-” he gritted out as he clenched his claw-like hands into fists. No! She was definitely not going to get away from him this time!

Her dark long hair was now flowing behind her in waves as she jumped from tree to tree in an attempt to keep her power level low. She was still grinning. She couldn’t help but grin, smile in fact! Even if it was one of pure madness, insanity even. She figured if she was going to die, she would sure as hell live it up these last few moments, minutes, hours – whatever time she managed to have.

She continued on without even looking back. She tried to keep her power level as low as she could but deep down she knew that despite that, he could probably still locate h-

“Fuck!” She crashed full force into something that flashed right in front of her. She immediately lost her balance and fell off of the tree and down to the ground with a loud thud. “Oww,” she sat up and groaned, rubbing her face as her tail swayed behind her in agitation. What the hell was that? It sure as hell wasn’t a damn tree because trees don’t just move in front of people for them to crash into! Oh no-

“You should watch where you’re going,” Cell chuckled, as he touched down on the ground. “We wouldn’t want you damaging that pretty face of yours,” he said in that raspy voice as his tail shot out from behind him and stopped just short of making contact with her neck.

Her neck stiffened immediately as her eyes glared at him. Damn bastard was just messing with her.

“I should watch where I’m going? YOU should watch where you’re going! It’s not nice to get in people’s way like that. Especially when your body is so damn hard, I’m surprised I didn’t break my nose.”

“That is just the strength of my exoskeleton, my dear,” he said slowly, running the tip of his stinger up and down along the side of her neck.

“Exoskeleton? God you sound even more like a disgusting bug-faced freak,” she spat, feeling the tip of his stinger on her neck.

“Disgusting bug-faced freak, eh? Are you unhappy with this body,” he said almost mockingly with that damn gleam in his eyes. It was almost as if he was amused by this all. Damn bastard!

“Not just your body, Cell. Your very existence is what pisses me off.”

This Saiyan sure was an interesting one, especially her rambunctious demeanor and attitude. For some reason he felt as though he didn’t want to kill her anymore. But just because of that, it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t toy with his little friend.

“If that were the case,” he chuckled, “Then you should just wait until I achieve my perfect form.”

“Is it any different than now?”

“Very,” he chuckled darkly. “Very soon, once we finish our little business here, I will absorb those two androids and personally show you along with the rest of the world my perfect being!”

“Yeah- No,” she replied. She quickly grabbed his tail and with a sudden burst of inner strength, swung him once around and sent him flying into nearby trees. She wasted no time in following it up with plenty of scatter shot attacks. The area was now engulfed in a large cloud of dirt and dust. She tried to catch her breath as she scanned the area for him. Surely that wasn’t enough to even scratch him so what was taking him so lo-oh god!

He shot out of the cloud with an array of punches and kicks – all of which Dani could barely dodge or keep up with. But she would admit that she was doing a bit better since their first encounter earlier that day. Yet, his attacks felt more powerful even though she knew he was holding back. Could it be… could it be that he finally reached his full power?

With a few good punches and kicks, he pushed her back then suddenly whirled around and slammed his tail into her side once again sending her flying into some trees. Only this time, the trees didn’t break. She crashed face first into the tree, slowly sliding down the length of the trunk until she hit the ground. She was breathing heavily, resting her head against the trunk as she tried to catch her breath once more.

She didn’t even hear or sense him approach her. He pulled her up by the back of her shirt. Whoa did she suddenly feel lightheaded or what. Seems like the exhaustion and many shots to the head were beginning to affect her sooner than she thought and had hoped for. He set her down and watched on in amusement as her tail immediately shot out in an attempt to keep her balanced as it looked like if her legs would go out at any minute. She was definitely done now.

She teetered on a bit until she finally leaned on the tree for support. She was about to push herself off when he felt something quite unsettling. She froze- her eyes widening slightly. This energy, it felt like Piccolo. It was so strong though. That’s when it hit her. They must’ve found the androids and he must be fighting them right now! Damn it! Cell! She slightly glanced over at him and she knew that he felt that power too. Well there was only one thing to do.

She sprang out with a hard knee to his chin that made him stagger back slightly. Success! Now to run away- ho, crap there went her legs. He easily caught her as she fell forward onto his chest.

“Well hello there,” he said in that raspy voice as his eyes looked down at her.

“Uh, hi,” she replied with a grin. The next thing she knew, she felt a pinch on her neck and she completely went limp in his arms.

Ah finally. Now that that was taken care of, it was now time for him to reach his perfection! He wrapped his arm around her waist so she that she was positioned at his side, then took off towards the source of that great power. He flew as fast as he could, excitement filling his being. It mattered not if they could feel him coming. He just wanted to see the look of fear in their eyes once they saw him there. Oh such delight!

He could sense so much energy just radiating out from their fight. It was almost as if they were purposely calling out for him to arrive. He laughed, such fools had no idea just what awaited them.

* * *

Piccolo and Android 17 were exchanging some fierce punches to each other’s stomachs when they jumped back. Piccolo shook his head in an attempt to refocus but as he hid, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that made his eyes widened. He whipped around and stood frozen in shock. It was him! It was Cell! Wait, but what about- oh no! Dani! He thought as he noticed Cell holding her limp form. But how could this be? Damn it! He was too focused on fighting Android 17 that he didn’t even sense Cell coming.

Cell’s viper-like eyes gleamed in satisfaction upon seeing the shocked expression of Piccolo. He let go of Dani and jumped down from where he was standing. He walked right past Piccolo; the latter still frozen in shock.

“Why thank you Piccolo for leading me here,” Cell laughed as he began to power up to his full power.

“What is that Piccolo? And why is it interrupting our fight?” 17 called out to Piccolo.

Piccolo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The androids had no idea who Cell was and what his goals were. Damn, this could make things a bit complicated…

“17! His name is Cell and he came here to absorb you and Android 18!”

“What? Ha, yeah, like that’ll ever happen,” 17 replied coolly.

“17! You and 18 have to get out of here now!” Piccolo exclaimed, feeling Cell’s power increase.

“C’mon Piccolo, we can take him,” 17 said cockily, taking a stance as Cell reached his full power.

“Now, prepare yourselves!” Cell charged at them, easily swatting Piccolo aside and headed towards 17. He was in front of him within an instant. Cell’s speed caught the android off guard as he landed some hard kicks and punches, finally knocking the android down. Yes, finally one step closer to perfection, he thought as his stinger opened up to absorb 17. Unfortunately, just as he was about to absorb 17, Piccolo attacked him allowing the raven haired android to escape from his grasp.

Foolish Piccolo. Did he actually think he could stand up to him? Cell noticed 17 coming in for an attack so he easily knocked him away and set his sights for Piccolo. If he got rid of Piccolo, then there would be no more interference.

After a foolish effort on Piccolo’s behalf, Cell easily defeated him and blasted a hole through his chest. He tossed the lifeless Piccolo into the sea then set his sights once again on 17. The android was no match for him as he went to absorb him once more. Only this time, he was interrupted by a very unlikely someone – Android 16!

Android 16 landed a direct and solid punch to Cell’s face which made him stagger back and once again lose grasp of 17. So the silent giant claimed to be just as strong as him? Well they’d just have to see about that!

After a fierce struggle between the two androids, it seemed as though 16 had the upper hand. What frustrated Cell was the revelation that he could not absorb him! 16 took advantage of the surprise and continued to pummel Cell down, even going as far as completely pulling off his tail. However that effort was in vain for Cell had Piccolo’s genes in him, and for that, he could simply regenerate a new tail. Despite that, 16 continued his attacks. Cell tried to counterattack but it had no effect against 16’s Inferno Flash.

“17! 18! You must get out of here now! Do not give Cell the opportunity to absorb you!” 16 called out to his fellow androids.

“Are you kidding me? With you 16, the three of us are unstoppable,” 17 remarked cockily. “Nothing can get in our way!”

16’s eyes widened as he noticed Cell coming out of the ground behind 17.

“17!” he called out, but it was too late. Cell had quickly gotten to him and successfully absorbed him.

Cell’s body erupted in power as he began to transform into his Semi-Perfect form.

It was then that Dani began to stir. She slowly sat up and rubbed her head, trying to recollect the events that had occurred. That’s when it all hit her… as well as that small pebble that just hit the back of her head. Just where was all this power she was sensing coming from? She turned around and her eyes widened in shock at what she saw. It was Cell! But he looked, different. He looked more humanoid than he did before, it looked as though he actually had a face now with the exception of his nose, his wings were gone, his tail was longer and was colored orange and black, and he was now _way_ bulkier in size.

He must have absorbed one of the androids! That could be the only explanation! Her thoughts were proven correct when she noticed the remaining androids trying to make an escape but were intercepted by Cell. Whoa was he fast! He seemed like a giant blur the way he easily caught up to them. She saw the big guy land a hard punch to Cell’s face but it appeared as though Cell was completely unfazed by it. That’s when Cell retaliated by nearly blowing the big android’s head off.

Dani gasped at the force and brutality of the attack. He was definitely a monster. She saw a shadow up in the sky and was surprised to see Tien. He had his hands in a triangle formation and had his sights set directly for Cell.

“Just what are you doing?” Cell called up at him.

“I’m going to stop you right here Cell!” Tien looked determined as he released his Tri Beam attack. He called out to the androids to make their escape before Cell could attack them all. That’s when he noticed Dani looking on in awe and so he called out to her too.

“Dani! What are you doing! Help get the androids out of here!” he ordered, firing another round of Tri-Beam attacks at Cell.

Dani snapped out of her little trance and flew over to the androids. She skipped the introductions and got straight to the point. “Look, I don’t know you and you don’t know me. But right now we need to get you out and away from here as possible, otherwise Cell will absorb you as well and we definitely don’t want that,” she said urgently. They accepted her help and allowed for her to help in carrying 16.

“Get away!” Tien called out, “Far away from here as possible!”

“Be careful!” she called back to him as she flew away with the androids.

After many Tri-Beam attacks, exhaustion finally kicked in as Tien fell to the ground unconscious. Cell slowly rose out from the large crater the attacks had made and sensed his surroundings. He knew the androids had no energies to detect but he was aware that Dani was with them. He just had to track down _her_ energy. He couldn’t find it though! Damn it! She was either suppressing it or they had managed to make a great escape. Either way he was none too happy about it.

His attention immediately went to Tien – the reason why they got away. How dare he think he could stall his plans with such a futile attack. He would finish Tien off as retribution for the hindrance! Just as he was about to fire, someone he certainly did not expect to see appeared before him. It was Goku! But what was he doing here? He quickly disappeared then reappeared next to the seaside. He was pulling something out of the water. Was it… It was! It was Piccolo! Tch, if he wasn’t dead then the pathetic fool was most likely hanging on by a mere thread.

Cell and Goku were locked in a fierce stare-down until Goku spoke and said that they would not fight today. But Cell would not have it. He would fight Goku right now! He charged full force at the Saiyan but right before his fist made contact, Goku completely disappeared.

That technique… the one Goku used to suddenly disappear and reappear… that was something Cell definitely wanted to know. There was no use in just wondering about it now. There was an android he needed to find!

* * *

Dani sighed as she leaned back against the trunk of a tree atop one of its branches. They had stopped at a small chain of islands and decided it would be best to stop for a bit and regain themselves somewhat especially considering beyond this chain was nothing but open sea. Who knew when they would encounter land if they continued on in the direction they had left.

Dani was aware that the androids had no power levels which meant that Cell would surely try to track her down. If that was the case, then she would have to completely focus and suppress it. She folded her arms behind her head and unwrapped her tail from around her waist, simply letting it slowly sway back and forth. She sat up suddenly when she felt something grab a hold of her tail. She looked down and couldn’t help the smile from seeing a small squirrel sitting on the curved tip. It looked like the little guy was just enjoying himself, just chilling, sitting on her tail as it swayed back and forth.

“We may not know who you are, but thank you,” the big android spoke up at Dani.

“Huh, oh no problem. My enemy is your enemy, simple as that,” she shrugged as she looked down at them from her place atop the tree branch. The little squirrel climbed up the length of her tail and back and settled on her shoulder, its soft tail brushing her cheek leaving a slight tickle.

She was playing with the squirrel when suddenly Cell’s loud booming voice caught her attention, demanding they reveal themselves or he would destroy all of the islands one by one. Dani listened intently as he went on about the inevitable and whatnot.

“Do not let Cell’s threats get to you,” 16 said to both of them. He was right. She couldn’t let Cell’s threats get to her. She couldn’t let him detect her energy because the second he did it would probably be the end for all of them. All was quiet when suddenly an explosion rang throughout. She knew what he had done. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. If they couldn’t hear it, they could definitely _feel_ it. Another explosion sounded, and Dani was beginning to slip near the edge at the thought of all those people dying simply because Cell was pissy and impatient.

“Dani,” 16 warned, seeing her struggle.

Another explosion. She tightly gripped at the fabric of her pants, trying to control herself but she felt herself slowly slipping away. She couldn’t describe her relief at sensing two different powers arrive. They felt very powerful and one of them felt like Trunks… but it was so drastic from before, could that really be Trunks?

* * *

The fight between Cell and Vegeta quickly ensued after their confrontation. Cell soon realized that Vegeta was much more powerful than he even in that form. Even after powering up to full power, he was unable to injure Vegeta let alone land a hit!

Cell cursed at Vegeta. Surely if he had never appeared, he would have successfully flushed the android out and successfully absorbed her. Wait- perhaps there was still a way. If he appealed to the Saiyan Prince’s ego and desire to fight strong opponents, then perhaps he would be allowed to search for 18 once more.

Cell told Vegeta that if he let him go, he would surely give him the fight he so desired. Vegeta, wanting a stronger opponent, fell right into Cell’s trap and let him go. Now there were only a couple of islands left so she just had to be in one of those. As he was about to continue his search, he was blocked by Trunks. Great, another Saiyan to deal with. He was pleased however when Vegeta intervened but not before he suffered some devastating kicks and punches at the hands of Trunks.

As he was slouched over holding his gut, his eyes widened when he spotted Android 18. Perfection would soon be his! Trunks looked over at what Cell was staring at in delight. His eyes widened upon the realization that Cell had found the android. And what was worse was that they didn’t seem to realize that they had been spotted. He spotted Krillin with the android and called out to them in warning.

Cell charged at the android with Trunks in hot pursuit behind him. Vegeta kicked Trunks out of the way leaving Cell to absorb his android. But as he charged, something shot out and kicked him in his jaw.

“Dani!” he growled in that deep voice as the female Saiyan had a look of content on her face.

She felt pretty awesome for the fact that she landed a hit on him in this form. Heh, the fact that she managed to hit him meant that she was most likely going to die right then and there. It didn’t matter now, if this allowed Krillin and the android to make an escape, then so be it. Right now, every single second mattered.

“As much as you have me wanting, this isn’t the time nor place for us to play.”

Wait- what? Wanting? Wanting what-

Her thoughts were interrupted when he appeared before her and dug his knee in her gut with such force that she coughed up blood. He caught her ankle before she fell down to earth and swung her around a few times. He threw her far over the mountain and into the sea, even going as far to shoot a powerful ki blast just for good measures. Now there would be no interruptions.

Turning his attention back to the task at hand, he noticed Krillin and 18 trying to make an escape along with Trunks trying to come up from behind. There was only one way to deal with them all at the same time. He flew up towards the sun and faced them all.

“SOLAR FLARE,” he called out, successfully blinding everyone on sight long enough to absorb 18.

Perfection was finally his.

* * *

Dani gasped for air as she burst from out of the water and swam towards the shore of the island. She glanced up and noticed this was not the same one she was on before. Damn just how hard did that bastard throw her? She collapsed on the shore and could easily feel the power and energy in the air. There was a fight going on. But between who?

Was- was that Cell? _No_! There was no way that was him. Had he reached his perfect form? Son of a bitch!

She felt one power quickly drop but another rise immediately after. It was Trunks! And boy oh boy did he feel stronger than ever.

“Kick his ass Trunks,” she cheered slowly with a groan as she struggled to get up. She dragged herself out of the open and towards the rocky area near the center of the island. 

She had no idea how much time had passed when she sensed all the fighting cease. By this point, she had regained some of her energy but holy fuck he kneed her so hard her abdomen was still feeling pretty tender. She figured she had enough energy to fly back to Kame House but just as she was about to take off, she felt something appear behind her. She slowly turned around, eyes widening in shock at what she saw.

“Well hello there,” that smooth, velvety voice spoke.

It was him! It was Cell! It was Cell but it was not Cell. It was him, but oh lord did he look different. He looked much more humanoid than he did before. He looked almost… handsome and… actually attractive…

Wait- what?

“What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue?” he smirked as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I-I… Y-you’re-”

“Perfect?” he finished. “I told you this body was much more, _perfect_, than the first,” he said in a cool voice as he slowly approached her still frozen form. “Is this not to your liking?” his voice low, sending chills down her spine, as he was awfully close to her.

That’s when she snapped out of it and jumped back, putting some distance between the two. Her heart was _racing_. She didn’t know if it was fear or…

Just what did he want? Was he going to kill her? Or just toy with her and rub his success in her face? Either way she was most certain she didn’t want to be here a second longer.

She abruptly turned around and went to fly up but he caught her ankle before she could even get anywhere.

He chuckled. “Where are you going my dear? Were we not about to _PLAY_!” he exclaimed as he slammed her into the mountain, still holding onto her ankle.

She groaned, trying to repress the pain. He held her up by her ankle so that they were about eye level to each other and began to squeeze. Yes, yes! That’s the look he wanted to see! That look of pain!

He was going to snap her ankle! She knew he could have already done so and that the bastard was enjoying seeing her in pain. And _ohhhhh_ fuck did it hurt. It hurt so bad! But what could she do to get out of his grasp? She was sure that she could blast him with everything she had yet he would still be unfazed.

He watched on in twisted amusement as her hand reached for his head. He was interested in what she would attempt seeing as how there would be no escaping his hold. Suddenly, her hand gripped his face and she brought her lips to his.

His eyes widened in surprise from the contact. The instant he let her go from the surprise of the kiss, she was already gone leaving him to process everything that had just happened.


	4. Chapter 4

“AAHHHHHH!” Dani screamed as she flew as fast as she could towards Kame House.

‘I kissed him! OH MY GAWD, I KISSED HIM!’ she mentally screamed.

She still couldn’t believe it. But she had no other choice! He would have snapped her ankle! That bastard! He could have snapped her ankle from the very beginning! He just wanted to see the pain etched on her face! And yet despite all of that… she couldn’t get the image of his perfect form out of her head.

He looked much more humanoid than he did in his previous form, now he had a fully formed nose and mouth. He was smaller and less bulky than his previous form but still larger than his first form. She noticed that his wings had grown back and were colored black with a purple hue, along with his shoulders, chest, and lower legs. The orange line that went to his chin and to both sides of his ears was now yellow. His skin was an ethereal ivory color, and his face… oh his face. He had purple markings around his eyes running down his cheeks to his strong jaw line. But what got her attention the most were his eyes – those hot pink colored eyes…

She shook her head, trying to clear her mind from all of that.

“Oh my god, I’ve must have been hit harder in the head than I first imagined,” she groaned.

She finally touched on the shores of the small island and headed inside. It was completely quiet. Was no one home? She called out and still got no response. That’s when Turtle, from the doorway, told her that everyone had gone to Capsule Corp. She needed some time to regain her strength, so she decided to not leave just yet and to relax a bit to calm her thoughts down.

She sat down on the cushioned seating and before she knew it, she was lying down for a much needed nap. A while later, she slowly came to feeling much better than before, yet still drained and injured. She sat up and reached for the remote that was on the low table and began flipping through the channels. There was absolutely nothing to watch. She continued flipping through the channels until she saw something very disturbing. She blinked then flipped it back to the previous channel.

It was Cell… Was he- was he at the TV station? Dani flipped the channel accordingly as he moved up from studio to studio until he finally reached the news broadcasting station. She watched helplessly in silent horror as he killed the anchorman with a simple flick of his finger and made an announcement.

She stared at the TV screen in shock and disbelief at what he was saying. A tournament? The Cell Games? In ten days? Now he was just full of himself. He wanted to challenge the Earth’s greatest fighters just so he could test the limit of his new power. If no one managed to defeat him then he would exterminate all life on Earth and enjoy seeing the people’s terrified faces in the process. That monster!

She could feel her anger rising as she tightly gripped the remote control. He had just destroyed a large section of the city with a simple blast! She was just about to turn the TV set off when-

“Oh, one last thing before I’m on my way,” Cell smirked, “Dani, if you could be so kind as to make your way back to me within the next twelve hours, I’d _greatly_ appreciate it. Otherwise, I’ll just have to find you myself,” he finished in a dark voice.

Her jaw hit the floor as the signal cut off. Was- was he for real? Or was this some kind of fucked up scare tactic?

“What the hell! Everyone else gets ten days while I don’t even get one!” she exclaimed as she stood up. Twelve hours? He had lost his mind.

“W-where are you going?” Turtle asked as he blocked her from leaving.

“Out to the city,” she replied with a serious look in her eyes.

“B-but you’re injured.”

“This is nothing. Now please, move.”

“Are you going to confront Cell?”

Her eyes softened as she sighed and raked a hand through her hair. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

Turtle knew there was nothing he could do to stop the Saiyan. But at the most he could give her something that would help her in the least.

“Please, follow me,” he said as he made his way inside Kame House with Dani right behind him. He stopped next to a counter and pointed up at the cupboards. “At the very back of that cupboard you’ll find two small beans that will restore your energy and health if you eat just one. Please eat one and take the other with you.”

She cautiously glanced down at him then reached up and patted around until she felt two small bean-like objects.

“Is this it?” she showed him the small beans to which he nodded. So if she ate one, her energy and health would be restored and she would be good as new? Well, what else did she have to lose? Almost immediately she could feel her power rise and go back to normal.

“What the hell was that?” she asked, tucking the other bean away.

“It’s called a Senzu Bean.”

“A Senzu Bean huh? Why did that old man have it hiding in the back?” she questioned.

“He kept it there just in case a time ever arose in which he would join or be needed in battle. But I’m afraid my old friend is way past his prime,” Turtle chuckled lightly.

“Thank you, though,” she said with smile, crouching down slightly to pet his head. “I’ll be on my way now.”

Turtle watched as she left the house and flew off.

* * *

The Z fighters stared at the TV screen in shock at Cell’s announcement of the Cell Games. They were also in shock from his last little bit before he left.

“What um… whatever happened to Dani?” Krillin uttered.

“After my fight with Cell, before you and my father had arrived, I tried to sense and locate her but I couldn’t. I even searched around the islands but nothing,” Trunks explained.

“You don’t think she died?” Krillin questioned worriedly.

“No. During my fight with Cell, I sensed something out in the distance on a nearby island that felt a lot like her. I just hope she’s alright.”

“Just why in the world would Cell be interested in some human female?” Vegeta question haughtily, approaching the group.

“She just so happens to be a Saiyan, Vegeta,” Yamcha replied in contempt at the Saiyan Prince.

“What?” Vegeta’s eyes widened. Trunks nodded when Vegeta looked in his direction. “But how can this be?”

“We don’t know ourselves Vegeta,” Krillin spoke up, “But all we know is that she is a Saiyan, she even has the tail to prove it, and that Cell is after her.”

Could it be true? Could there really be another full-blooded Saiyan on Earth?

He merely walked away from the group, seemingly letting the issue go. If they had ten days, then he would waste no time just sitting around doing nothing. He stated that he was going to go train, with Trunks following suit right behind him.

“I really hope Dani is alright,” Krillin said softly.

“Hey bro, we all do,” Yamcha assured, placing a reassuring hand on Krillin’s shoulder.

All thinking of what exactly Cell had planned…

* * *

Cell stood in the center of his newly constructed ring with his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. He was wondering if he’d have to look for Dani or not. He could honestly say that he wasn’t sure what it would come to. Yet, either way, the result would be the same. It always was.

He had given her twelve hours. Only a couple had passed and he was already feeling bored and impatient which surprised him slightly. He had waited so long to achieve perfection so he knew patience, yet for some reason, right now he couldn’t wait. Twelve hours. If she didn’t show up by the end of those twelve hours, he would go out and find her. Well, he never said that he wouldn’t try and draw her out. Perhaps that would kill some time, terrorizing his way around the planet all the while luring out a Saiyan. It would be completely fair for he technically wouldn’t be searching for her. He’d just be killing time by having his own fun and if he just so happened to run into her, ah, well what a pleasure that would be.

* * *

Dani looked down at the people of the city from atop a rooftop as they all scrambled to leave. Heh, the whole world saw that broadcast. Of course everyone would be terrified. Barely one day in his perfect form and Cell had already managed to put the entire planet’s population into a frenzy. They all looked like little ants as they scrambled around. She thought it was foolish though, the way they thought they’d be better off in the countryside and away from the city when in truth, no place was safe for them.

“Meh,” she groaned spitefully. At least they had ten days where she didn’t even have one. She had less then twelve hours now. Great. She tapped her chin in thought, thinking what she could possibly do if these were going to be her last few hours alive. Oh! She had an idea!

A few hours later…

“We love you Dani!” the entire drunk bar called out as Dani walked out after some nice long hours of drinking and getting hammered.

“I love you guys too!” she called back at them as she waved goodbye.

Ha, who would have thought that the people who stayed behind were the ones that thought Cell was nothing but a big hoax. The funnier thing was, who wouldn’t think to find them at a bar enjoying their ‘last days to live’. It was all quite interesting though, having a bunch of drunken people explain to you why they thought Cell was nothing but a fake. Ahh, fun.

Now, what else to do? She glanced up at the changing sky and couldn’t believe it was already the evening, almost night. She also took a deep breath through her nose and realized that she reeked of booze, dirt, sweat, blood, and probably self pity…

A spa sounded great.

She figured it would be completely empty seeing as how the city now was completely abandoned. Her thoughts were proven correct when she landed in front of the spa and went right in. Nice, they didn’t even bother locking anything. Everyone just got up and left, fearing for their lives. Well that was a good thing for her because that meant that everything was fully functional and all she had to do was get her little self in that hot tub.

“I need to hurry before my buzz wears off,” she mused as she made her way straight to the dressing rooms. She stripped off her clothes in the changing area and slipped into one of the robes before hopping into the awaiting hot tub.

She sank down into the water, feeling her muscles relax completely. Ah, yes, this was quite a way to enjoy oneself…

* * *

Ah how he enjoyed seeing the looks of fear and panic come across the people when they saw him coming! Such a delightful feeling it was!

Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to leave the cities. Hmm, he wondered why. Such foolish creatures. No matter where they fled, he would kill them all.

He touched down on the city street, and just like all of the other cities he had been to, it was completely empty. He let out a laugh, content with the fear he had instilled upon the entire population within one day.

Just as he was about to fly away, he felt a familiar presence that made a large evil grin appear on his face. He tracked her down to some human grooming center and quietly walked in, wanting to see the look of fear, shock, surprise, or maybe all, on her face when she saw him. He entered what appeared to be a changing room when he noticed her clothes on the bench. His grin broadened. Ah, so she was here. _Perfect_.

He followed the heat and steam until he reached a door which led to the room that appeared to be the source. He slid it open loudly and stood at the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest, a big smirk on his face. Her back was to him but he could clearly see her stiffen and freeze.

“Ah, so there you are my dear.”


	5. Chapter 5

Her eyes widened. Was- was he standing right behind her? But she still had hours left! The fuck! To make matters even worse, she was completely naked except for the towel wrapped around her body. And she was still buzzed! Well maybe that part wasn’t so bad heh.

She slowly turned her head to finally look up at him. “Ah yes hello. May I help you?”

“My apologies for the intrusion,” he smirked, “I couldn’t help but notice your energy as I was flying around the city.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You haven’t been killing people, have you?”

He laughed. “On the contrary, I’ve merely been flying around, enjoying the looks of fear and panic that come across those pathetic creatures when they see me coming.”

She slowly nodded, literally just trying to make sense of her situation. “It was to my understanding that I still had a few hours left.”

“Does it really matter how much time you had left? Did you really think you could escape me?”

“I am sitting practically naked in a hot tub at a spa in the middle of an abandoned city. Does it _look_ like I was trying to escape?” she retorted. “I was just trying to enjoy my last few hours to live, but then you came and interrupted that.”

“Who said I would kill you?” he looked at her amusedly.

She blinked. “Wait... you’re not going to kill me? Why? No- not why. What I mean is- uh, what?”

Did she really hear that right? He wasn’t going to kill her? Then why the hell was he chasing her down! Why the hell was _any_ of this happening?

“Those are reasons for me to know-”

“And me to find out, blah blah blah, I get it.”

His brow twitched.

“Well if that’s settled,” he turned his back to her, “You have ten minutes to change and we’ll be on our way.”

“_What_?”

“Need I repeat myself?”

“I- no. It’s just that…” she didn’t exactly know how to tell him that her clothes were in the other room… the entrance to which he was blocking… crap.

She cleared her throat. “Um Cell, my clothes are-” she nearly leapt out of the water to catch her clothes that Cell had tossed over his shoulder. “Watch it!” It’d be a pain if they had gotten wet.

“That doesn’t sound like a thank you,” he smirked to himself.

“Oh don’t worry, it’s not.” God this guy was really starting to piss her off. Did he really expect her to change here with his back to her? Like hell she would.

Getting out of the water and securing the towel tightly around her, with her clothes at hand she walked up to him. “Excuse me,” she said as she slid past him through a small opening in between his body and the doorway, and then made her way towards the changing rooms.

“Just where are you going?”

“To change!”

Except she didn’t make it a few steps without stopping and walking back to the hot tub, only this time he stepped aside for her to pass.

“Forgot my wine,” she mumbled, as she walked past him once again and this time actually headed to a stall to change. She groaned spitefully at having to change back into those clothes yet determined that she would find new ones… or at least wash these. Once she was done, she didn’t even bother using her hands in opening the stall door. She merely kicked it down and stepped out with her arms crossed over her chest and wine at hand. Her tail swayed behind her as she glanced back at him.

“Well?” she questioned before beginning to slowly walk away, not even bothering to wait for him. He merely smirked and followed closely behind.

Dani’s brow furrowed as she quickly reviewed things in her head. So he wasn’t going to kill her… that was at least something. But that didn’t really explain much of anything else as to why he kept chasing after her. She was never much of a fighter despite the revelation that she was part of a warrior race. It all seemed unnecessary and a waste of energy to her. However, that didn’t mean she wouldn’t if she had to, as highlighted with her past encounters with Cell and the present.

She couldn’t just give up and give in _this_ easily to him though. But how could she do anything against the strongest being on the planet? He far surpassed her in speed, strength, power, everything! He surpassed _everyone_! And even then, _where_ would she go? Granted, hypothetically she did manage to get away, where could she hide where Cell wouldn’t find her or at least leave her alone.

She had to think of a plan. But that was kind of hard when she could clearly feel and hear him walking right behind her. He was staring at her, she just knew it! She didn’t need to look back to verify, she could just _feel_ it. He was boring holes in her back.

She had to focus though. She had to think! No place was safe from him- that’s when she remembered something. Trunks! And Piccolo! And Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, everyone! They could help her! Yes, that was it! But now, how exactly to go about that. She couldn’t fly off towards them because of the pain in the ass walking closely behind her. Well, if she couldn’t go to them, she’d make them come to her.

Finally stepping out into the cloudy, fresh night, she couldn’t help but notice the silence of the large city. It felt completely deserted; it basically was, except for those few idiots drinking the rest of their lives away at the bar. It was completely quiet, and dark with the only light coming from the streetlights that gave the entire setting an eerie feeling. She took a hold of her wine bottle as Cell stood beside her and glanced up at the night sky. She took a swig of it then sighed deeply, tossed it up in the air, then lunged at Cell with a fist and knee.

He chuckled, having easily caught her attacks and relieved she was actually going to put up a fight. What he didn’t catch was the wine bottle to his face as she had caught the neck with her tail and with a swing of her hips, shattered the bottle over his eyes temporarily blinding him. She was instantly gone.

He stepped back, growling out at the pain of having that damned alcoholic beverage get in his eyes. And yet, he could help but feel a malicious smile creep its way onto his face as he let out a wicked laugh. Ohoho, she was quite a nifty one. It seems as though he would be having his fun after all.

He straightened himself up once his sight returned to him and easily tracked her down. Foolish girl, she wasn’t even trying to conceal herself. It was quite the opposite. She was raising her power as if she wanted him to find her… That’s when he realized her intentions and couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. Quite a nifty girl indeed. However, it would be far too late by the time those foolish Z fighters arrived!

She was moving as fast as she possibly could all the while raising her power. She was probably losing her mind. She wanted to laugh at the satisfaction at having smashed that bottle over his stupid handsome face. The adrenaline coursing through her veins gave her a rush unlike no other that she absolutely loved the excitement that flooded her being. She’d never before experienced such a feeling in her life, and she loved it.

She abruptly stopped as he appeared before her with an evil, dark look on his face.

“Resorting to dirty tricks, huh? Now now Dani, where is your noble Saiyan pride?” he questioned mockingly.

“Somewhere at the bar,” she chortled, crossing her arms.

“And here I thought we wouldn’t be able to have a little fun and enjoy our game,” he said with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

“Well then it’s a good thing I decided to stay and have YOU come to ME. Like a little, bitch,” her eyes narrowed, with a mischievous gleam to them.

His eyes narrowed as well, a frown forming on his perfect features.

“A lady such as yourself should not speak in such a manner,” he said coolly and low.

“Bite me,” she replied with a big grin. Next thing she knew, she was flying through air and into a building.

“Oww,” she laughed, lying atop the rubble as dust and debris filled the night air. She sat up and shook her head with her big grin never faltering. “You were telling me about resorting to dirty tricks? Heh, that was a sucker punch, a dirty bitch move,” she laughed as she got up and dusted herself off. “How’d that wine feel by the way?” she smirked.

His brow twitched. He fired a ki blast down, completely leveling the entire block. Once the dust settled, he couldn’t sense her energy. He knew she was out there somewhere in the shadows. That blast was nothing. He could level the entirety of the city with one blast if he so desired. But no, he didn’t want to kill his Saiyan friend.

He turned around just in time to block one of her kicks from behind followed by an array of attacks. He easily dodged or blocked them with ease. She was beginning to get frustrated, he could easily tell.

“Why. Don’t. You. Stay. Still!” she exclaimed. Her eyes widened in surprise when her fist actually made contact with his face. Yes! But something didn’t feel right. He was perfectly still. She slowly drew her arm back and saw that he had that arrogant smirk on his face. What!

“Happy?” he questioned haughtily.

Her expression fell. “W-what?”

“My turn.”

Damn him! She clenched her fist and charged at him once more except this time he dug his knee into her gut then knocked her down to the ground with a hit to her back. However, she regained herself just in time to avoid contact with the ground and his foot, as it was now about half a meter into the concrete. That would have been one nasty hole if she never moved out of the way.

He smirked, removing his foot from the ground then charging at her. It was quite amusing to see her try and keep up with his attacks. He was merely toying with her now. She knew she stood no chance against him so then why did she continue to put this little effort up?

That did interest him though. From what he understood, she had no idea she was a Saiyan. If that was the case, then surely she had more power deep inside; power waiting to be brought out, power that had been suppressed for so long, and power that now intrigued him. Yes, she was definitely a Saiyan; he could clearly see it the more he continued on his attack. She was quickly adapting and improving the more the battle went on. He could honestly say that she had improved since their first encounter when he was in his first form. Like a true Saiyan, only getting stronger the more battles one fought. But either way, no one was a match for him.

He suddenly stopped in his attack and looked out in the distance with a smirk on his face. He could distinctly feel high power levels approaching the city, they were still very faint and far away but they were approaching the city at a very high speed.

Dani was able to land a direct punch to his jaw.

“Yes! Wait- no! Damn it!”

She knew that the only reason she hit him was because he let her. He glanced back at her as if she had never hit him in the first place.

“It seems as though we’ll have to wrap things up my dear.”

“What are-”

She didn’t even finish her sentence as she was skidding on the street and flipped back into an alleyway.

“Stop that! Stop not letting me finish talking!” she exclaimed as she stood and charged at him but he appeared behind her and grabbed her tail.

“Let’s see how your weakness holds up.”

“My wha- nghhh,” she gritted out in pain as he began to crushingly squeeze her tail.

When he eased on the pressure, he was surprised she was still trying to swing at him.

“Interesting, it was to my knowledge that if a Saiyan’s tail is squeezed they’re left nearly debilitated after,” he looked at her curiously, tail still in hand.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It hurts because you’re crushing it like a damn hydraulic press not because you’re _squeezing_ it you stupid son of a- nghhhhhh,” she gritted again until he finally let her go. Trying to regain her breath, she made another attempt to lunge at Cell but was surprised when she fell forward. Whoop there went her legs.

Ughhh they felt numb. Ohhh no now they felt tingly as she struggled to stand up. And she couldn’t feel her tail! Wait did she still have her tail? Looking back, okay good she still had her tail. She leaned against the building for some support and growled out in frustration when she couldn’t get enough semblance of balance to allow her to fly.

“I must say, this is a good look for you,” his voice was smug as he approached her.

“Bastard!” she exclaimed going in for a punch but he stepped aside and she got the building instead, leveling it. She quickly regained her balance and blindly attacked him once more but he caught her fist and slammed her into the other building, holding her wrists against the wall and pinning her body between his and the wall.

“I must admit my dear Dani, you are quite the resilient one. You know you are greatly outmatched and yet you continue on in this pointless battle.” He took in their positions and a thought came to his mind. “I just remembered, I had something to get back to you on,” he smirked.

“Oh yeah? And what might that be?” she spat, glaring up at him.

He let out a dark chuckle, looking down at her.

Her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets when he forcibly brought his lips down onto hers. Her heart was beating a furious drum in her chest. She was completely frozen. She didn’t know if it was panic, fear, shock, or all of the above.

She wasn’t so foul mouthed anymore.

He finally let her go and took a step back, content with his work.

“Tell me Dani, did you enjoy tasting my perfection?” he questioned smugly.

Ohhhhh how she was glad it was dark. Her cheeks were burning right now. Who knows what that bastard would say if he caught a glimpse of her flushed face. But now, he had the audacity to ask her something like that? It only made her cheeks burn even more!

“You son of a bitch!” she lunged at him. He easily dodged and delivered a sharp blow to the side of her neck and caught her by her waist before she fell to the ground. She weakly grabbed at his arm, fighting to stay conscious. But it was no use.

“Damn you,” she muttered as she lost consciousness and completely went limp.

With that finished, he flew up and away.

As he was flying towards his ring, he couldn’t help but notice how the clouds had dispersed and the sky was now bathed in moonlight. He cast it a cursory glanced but stopped when he did so. He was quite at a loss at what he saw. It was a full moon. He looked down at the unconscious Saiyan and spotted her tail. Surely if it were not cloudy earlier, she would have spotted the moon and given him more trouble than necessary. He took a hold of her tail and contemplated whether or not to pull it right off. It was no trouble to him but then again, he didn’t want to be dealing with an out of control Oozaru when he had his tournament coming up. If she never looked at the full moon then there was really no harm in not removing her tail. He’d just have to keep her in a place where she couldn’t see it if she were to wake up sooner than expected.

Either way, he was still the strongest and most powerful being in the universe no matter what happened.


	6. Chapter 6

By the time the Z-Fighters had arrived, Cell had already made his departure with the unconscious Saiyan.

“No! We’re too late! Just look at this place,” Krillin uttered as he, Yamcha, and Tien surveyed the damage.

“By the looks of this place, I’m guessing Dani must’ve run into Cell… or possibly the other way around,” Tien replied solemnly.

“That monster!” Yamcha clenched his fists.

“I can’t sense either of them,” Krillin groaned in frustration.

“Which means they’re long gone now,” Tien’s brow furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “There is no point in us just standing here doing nothing. We should head back and rest so we can continue training for the Cell Games.”

“I guess you’re right,” Yamcha sighed as Krillin nodded in agreement.

With nothing they could do at the time, the trio headed back.

* * *

The morning sun was beginning to peak over the horizon as Cell stood at the center of his arena with his eyes closed and his arm crossed over his chest, deep in meditation. He opened his eyes when he heard some rustling noise. He glanced down at the unconscious Saiyan and noticed that she had turned to her side with her back to him now. Upon further inspection, he could see that she was not unconscious but rather asleep!

Why that little-! His brow twitched in irritation.

He quickly composed himself and decided his little Saiyan friend had slept long enough. It was time to wake her. He lifted her up by her waist and flew towards a large pond that was situated a ways from his arena. He touched down on the small oasis-like area and casually tossed Dani face down into the water. He looked on in amusement as bubbles began to rise to the surface of the water until finally her head snapped up gasping for air and coughing out the water that had managed to get into her lungs.

She collapsed on her hands and knees atop a small patch of grass and managed to catch her breath after nearly coughing her lungs out. She glanced up and did a double take when she caught sight of Cell. She stared at him in slight disbelief.

Wait just a minute. Just where exactly was she? Why was she tossed in the water? Why is Cell here? Oh she got it now. The only logical explanation was that she must have fallen asleep at the spa or have finally passed out from the alcohol. Why else would Cell be before her? And it would explain why she was soaking wet. But if this was some sort of dream, then why hasn’t she woken up yet?

She blinked then slowly got up to her feet and straightened herself out, smiling and letting out a small laugh as she did so.

“I get it now. I’m still hammered, this must all be some sort of messed up dream, and you must be nothing more than a figment of my imagination,” she said nonchalantly as she approached him and patted his shoulder, much to his amusement. “You seem like a busy person and I wouldn’t want to occupy your time anymore, soooo I’ll just be on my way.”

She turned around to fly away… and presumably find a bar. She wasn’t even four feet off the ground when she felt something grab her tail and forcibly pull her back. She blinked, realizing she was hanging upside down… and at eye level with Cell. It was exactly like that one time at the island! Except this time he had her tail now.

He smirked. “This is no dream.”

It took a moment for his words to register in her mind before her expression completely fell.

“Then, where the hell am I? Why don’t you screw off! And damn it, let go of my tail!”

“I have your tail, yet you continue to flail around,” he said to himself, pretty much ignoring everything she had just said.

“Hey! Don’t ignore me!” she thrashed around. “And of course I’m moving around!” she crossed her arms over her chest and wiggled the tip of her tail near his face – all the while still upside down.

“Is that so?” he questioned, giving her tail a very strong squeeze, a repeat of the previous night.

She yelped out before covering her mouth shut with her hand.

“Ah, so it seems there is still something left,” he chuckled before giving her tail another tight squeeze.

“No no no nghhhh!” she exclaimed before biting her fist, refusing to cry out at the excruciating, paralyzing pain. This was just like last night only worse because her tail still hurt from before!

She struggled to move her leg, let alone get some feeling into it. “Let GO!” she exclaimed, successfully delivering a kick to his jaw. She landed on her back with a thud and groaned at the numbness of her body.

“Not bad Dani, seems you’ve still got a little fight in you.”

She groaned as she got up, albeit slowly. “Just what do you want? Are you not satisfied with the pain you’ve inflicted on me already? Seriously, you’ve kicked my ass like five times already. Twice in your ugly ugly form, once in your ugly form, and twice again in _that_ form,” she pointed a finger at him. “Just. Leave. Me. Alone!”

He chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest and slightly cocked his head to the side. “I’m afraid I can’t quite leave you alone, for you see, what I want is to train you,” he continued before she began to object, “Naturally, as a Saiyan you have much power and potential. Yet, you’ve never known that you were a Saiyan until recently. Saiyans are fighting warriors and have the ability to increase their strength and power to immense levels. The problem here however, is that you’ve been repressing your natural fighting urges and neglecting your own self from ascending and reaching newer levels of power. Whether you’ve realized it or not, I’ve already witnessed a slight increase in your power from just a couple of days. I’m _very_ curious and want to see just how far your limits go. If I have to train you myself to see your true power then so be it. I always get what I want so no point in fighting it. Besides, it’s not like I’ve got anything better to do in the next nine days leading up to my tournament.”

She eyed him suspiciously before smirking. “You seem to be more interested in my power than I am.”

“Don’t flatter yourself my dear,” he smirked.

“Well here’s the thing Cell, I could care less about this power. If that makes me a disappointment to ’my race’ then so be it. I might have been born a Saiyan but the fact is I was raised a human and would rather die a human,” she spat.

She was lying to herself and he knew it.

The Saiyan in her was definitely evident. Deep down she wanted power, she wanted to get stronger. Yet she was conflicted with herself, repressing her truthful desires all due to some childhood fears and anguish. He had noticed her eyes light up slightly when he had explained her potential. But just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared and replaced with what appeared to be… anger. That was brief as well but it didn’t slip by him.

“Is that so?” he questioned as he slowly approached her. “You’d rather die as a lowly and pathetic creature such as a human? The same ones that outcast you and turned their backs when you were in need?”

Her eyes narrowed as he walked right past her. How did… he know? Or was this some kind of mind trick?

“Come,” was all he said as he hovered above the ground and flew off into the distance. As much as her mind was screaming at her to take advantage of the small opportunity and escape, she just couldn’t help but turn around and follow albeit at a distance; who knew what he would try to pull. It wasn’t long before she saw Cell touch down atop a plateau and look down at whatever happened to be there. She landed a ways next to him and was quite surprise to see people, lots of people, driving in their cars; undoubtedly coming from the cities still trying to hide from Cell. The land was quite plain except for the small road and railroad tracks that ran across it.

Just what were they doing? It was pretty much the exact same scene she witnessed in the city from the rooftop. Those people probably thought that by being away from the cities they’d be safer. Idiots! Did they not realize that no matter where they went, Cell would hunt them down and kill every last one of them. Cell had made that point very clear on his announcement the day before. Those people were just making everything even more fun for Cell by scattering around!

“Look at them,” Cell scowled. “Such pitiful creatures. Would you really want to die as one of them? Don’t give me that look my dear for you see it too, don’t you? Fools they are, thinking they could actually escape me by simply relocating. Do you really want to be classified as such a weak and lowly species? Such a species that fears, shuns, rejects, or looks down upon that which it does not understand. A species filled with ignorance, unwilling to see and understand the truth of reality.”

He glanced over at her out of the corner of his eye and couldn’t help but feel the satisfaction of seeing that look in her eyes. His words were beginning to get to her... or rather reignite some internalized feelings. Either way if he could get her to lean in his direction, that’s all the push she would need before he got his way.

Their attention was grabbed at the sound of a shrilling scream. Dani glanced down at the people and noticed that many had their heads peeking out of their windows and were looking up at her and Cell’s direction. Could they-

“IT’S CELL!”

Yeah they could see them.

“AND HE’S GOT A HOSTAGE!”

“Uhh,” Dani sweatdropped, glancing over at Cell whom had his arm outstretched towards the people. “No- Wait!”

“Like I said, pathetic,” he said as he fired a small warning blast a little ways from the people. The blast hit the ground causing it to rumble slightly but also managed to scare the people out of their minds as screams of fear and panic filled the air. “Ah much better.”

She sighed in relief, at least this was better than him having cleared out the whole area. She had mixed feelings about humans, but that didn’t mean she would wish death upon them all.

“Have you gotten through to my point yet?” he questioned.

She gave a soft nod as she looked on at the scrambling people with a blank expression.

He grinned to himself in satisfaction. “Very well then, we should be getting to work. There are only nine days until my tournament.”

She sighed, following close behind.


	7. Chapter 7

“So what exactly are we going to do?” Dani questioned, looking off into the distance and rubbing the back of her head as they touched down on the arena.

“Why, we train of course.”

“Well yeah I know that,” she crossed her arms behind her head. “Dumbass,” she muttered.

For her sake he pretended not to hear that last part.

“What I mean is... nine days? Really? What do you plan to achieve here in nine days?”

“You will be surprised, amazed even, by the things we can accomplish in nine days my dear,” Cell grinned as he turned to face her.

“Ew, I’d rather not sir,” she muttered under her breath. “Anyways, let’s just get started.”

“Very well, try and land a hit on me.”

“Psh, I won’t try, I will,” she murmured, taking a stance and charging at him.

He could see right through her attacks as he dodged effortlessly. He smirked as he caught her arm and pulled her towards him, digging his knee deep into her abdomen and tossing her aside as if she were nothing but a mere rag doll.

“What the hell!” she exclaimed, landing with a loud thud as she held onto her abdomen.

“I never said I wouldn’t strike back,” he answered casually.

“You never said you would!” she groaned, lying back against the arena floor.

“Enough of your complaining and get up!” he shouted.

“I’m starting to rethink every single decision up to this point,” she mumbled. “Oh that’s right, I’ll most likely be dragged back if I try to escape.”

“If you won’t take this seriously then I guess I have no choice but to force it into you,” he called out darkly as he charged unexpectedly at the grumbling Saiyan.

“No-wait! Waitwaitwaitwaitwaaaaaaaaiittt!!”

* * *

Back on Kami’s Lookout, Goku and Gohan had finally emerged from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. As the father and son Saiyan team feasted on their first home-cooked meal in technically over a year, Trunks filled them in on the details of what had happened. Relaying the things back to them made him realize just how many things had actually happened in a single day.

A thought crossed Gohan’s mind as he set his bowl down. “Trunks! Dani… Where’s Dani? What happened to her?”

Trunks frowned and clenched his fists looking down. “Cell, he got to her.”

“You mean she’s-”

“No. We’re fairly certain she’s alive. We just don’t understand why he’s so obsessed in tracking her down even though he has already attained perfection. He has no further need for energy from the people of the planet so I just don’t understand why he can’t leave her alone!”

“That monster,” the young Saiyan gritted out. “We have to do something! We can’t just leave her with the likes of him!”

“Gohan,” Goku placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, “Everything will be alright.”

“But dad-” Gohan was about to protest when his father cut him off.

“Gohan, everything will be alright. Trust me,” Goku gave his son a reassuring squeeze.

Krillin knew his friend well enough to know that Goku already had a plan of sorts. What was it? He had no idea.

Gohan couldn’t believe how his father could be so calm when Dani was in danger for all he knew. He couldn’t just sit back while she was with that monster! He had to do something. He _wanted_ to do something. But he would just have to control his anger and trust in his father that everything would be alright.

Once Goku and Gohan had finished their meal, the team decided upon the order of who would train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Much to Gohan and everyone’s surprise, Goku stated that he and his son did not need another day in the Chamber and so they would finish their training on the outside. As much as Gohan wanted to protest, Goku seemed overly confident in his decision… He just seemed _way_ too confident.

“So Trunks, exactly how big of a change did Cell undergo when he reached perfection?” Goku asked, stretching his arms over his head.

“Well-”

“No, wait, don’t tell me. I want to find out for myself.”

“Wait- what? Goku!”

But before they could further question Goku, he was gone leaving the slightly confused Z-Fighters atop the lookout.

* * *

Cell was pleased… Oh yes, he was definitely pleased. He honestly didn’t expect to make much progress on the first day with the Saiyan but once again she exceeded his expectations. She probably didn’t even realize her own progress due to her excessive whining and complaining. But no matter, all she needed was a push… fighting for her life just happened to be that push.

Her incentive to fight was weak and it lacked motivation. He assumed it was greatly in part of her being raised by filthy humans. But once he got her riled up, however, her determination and resolve never faltered. The longer they fought, the more aggressive she became in her attacks – both physical and energy. So much that he had to lure her away from his precious ring as to not damage it.

But, alas, she was definitely slipping away. Surely enough she was beginning to succumb to those Saiyan instincts that had been forced dormant for so many years. He was very pleased with himself in that he was the one bringing this power out of her, but also because he had successfully gotten into her mind. He wondered if he could get her to completely lose herself and become a Super Saiyan…

Containing his own excitement was beginning to get difficult. He would occasionally find himself slipping away to the battle as well, and would have to restrain himself from accidentally killing her.

Dani was tired, completely exhausted, and hungry… but she couldn’t give up! Not without landing a nice hit on that oh so perfect face of his first! Then and only then would she be satisfied. He just pissed her off so much. She hated him! Just who the hell did he think he was telling her what to do…

_~Swing~_

Telling her where her place in life was…

_~Kick~_

And telling her who she really was!

Ah, he could feel her anger rising once again… Yes… Yes! That’s it! _Feed off of it! Feel the power and let it consume you!_

No one told her what to do!

_~Kick~_

She knew exactly where her place in life was!

_~Ki blast~_

And she knew _exactly_ who she was!

_~Punch~_

Cell’s eyes widened when her fist actually made full force contact with his jaw. He stood there stunned as she jumped back a few feet to make distance between them. Did that just happen? Did that _actually_ just happen?

“What was that about being untouchable?” she smirked.

… That actually DID just happen…

_OH NO_… that actually DID just happen!

His brow twitched. “Why you little-” he took a deep breath and regained his composure. “I definitely underestimated you. It was foolish of me to think you, a Saiyan, did not possess such power. However, that is a mistake I will surely not make again,” he remarked as he took a stance and was about to charge at the grinning Saiyan when suddenly something flashed in between him and his prey.

Dani blinked. What just happened? Did she just die? Wait- Who was that?

“Goku.” She heard Cell’s smooth voice speak.

Goku? Hold on a sec, wasn’t that the guy the androids were after? What was he doing here? Why was he talking to Cell? Was he about to fight Cell? Right here, right now? Was that it? Should she stay? Or should she move to a safe distance? What the hell was going on?

“...our fight will come. But not today,” said Goku.

Dani was too lost in her own thoughts that she wasn’t listening to what they were saying.

“I will be looking forward to our battle Goku.”

Before she could even register what happened, Goku was gone. Just as suddenly he appeared, he vanished. How did he do that? She couldn’t sense him at all. If only she could do the same to get away from Cell…

“Now, where were we?” he chuckled darkly.

Oh boy, she did not like that look. This could not be good. Heh, oh well. She got to hit him square in the face. She could die a happy fool now.

But he never charged at her. He never attacked. Instead he looked at her with wide eyes… almost in surprise… no- wait. He wasn’t looking at her… he was looking _behind_ her… he was looking at…

“Goku!” she breathed out, looking over her shoulder at him. He had a big goofy smile on his face. He placed a hand on her shoulder then waved at Cell in a friendly manner.

“Sorry, forgot something.”

Before Cell could react, Goku was gone… along with Dani. Anger coursed through him as he tried to sense her but to no avail. He clenched his fists – his black nails on the verge of piercing the perfect ivory skin of his palms. This was impossible! She was never impossible to detect! She was never out of his range! He had no range! He could find her no matter where she hid! But now… now, nothing! He couldn’t sense the slightest bit of her energy. Not even the _faintest_ trail. It was as if she disappeared completely off the face of the planet.

He was more than frustrated, he was absolutely _livid_. He shot a powerful ki blast to the mountain side, completely leveling it.

“No… ohh, no no no. If she thinks she can escape me so easily, she is clearly wrong. Goku, you shall pay for this dearly. I can guarantee you that,” he seethed.

* * *

“Hey guys, I’m back, and look who I brought with me,” Goku waved at the group with a big smile.

“Dani!” they exclaimed, running over to the two.

“Dad,” Gohan looked up at his father with bright eyes.

“I told you everything would be alright son,” Goku nodded at his son.

Dani just stood there, bombarded with questions until Goku placed a hand on her shoulder and addressed the small crowd of Z-Fighters, “How about we give Dani some time to wash up and relax before we bombard her with questions. Hmm? I’m sure she’s hungry too.”

“That sounds really good right now,” she laughed.

“Alright then, Mr. Popo here will lead you to the washrooms and provide you with anything you need so don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Thank you,” Dani nodded as Mr. Popo led her away from the small crowd.

“I know you guys probably have a lot of questions to ask her but you need to consider everything she’s been through. I’m sure she would really much enjoy some relaxation time and then would be willing to answer your questions.”

“You’re right Goku, we’re sorry,” Trunks nodded.

“We were just so overjoyed in seeing her again, especially considering that we thought we probably wouldn’t ever, ya know?” Krillin explained.

“I understand, but I just think it’s best if we let her rest for now.”

They all nodded at Goku as they went about their normal business.

* * *

“Ohhhh my gawd,” Dani groaned as the hot water hit her skin. It felt absolutely _amazing_. She definitely needed this. It wasn’t that long ago that she was in the hot tub before Cell found her but being forced back into her dirty clothes and being tossed around like a rag doll sure did make her feel filthy.

After her shower, she was surprised to find a meal, or more like feast, waiting for her – courtesy of Mr. Popo.

“Whoa, is this... is all of this for me?” she gaped, her mouth watering and stomach growling at the sight and smell of all the delicious food.

“Why yes,” Mr. Popo replied. “I figured if you’re a Saiyan, you’ll have just as big as an appetite as the others.”

Dani was already at the table stuffing her face.

“Mr. Popo, we’re gonna need more food,” she said in between bites.

“I shall prepare more,” Mr. Popo chuckled. He had no doubt in his mind that she was definitely a Saiyan as she downed dish by dish.

“Mr. Popo,” she groaned, “I can’t eat another bite.”

“Will you be off to your room for a nap Miss Dani?”

“Uhhhh, perhaps,” she laughed as she leaned back in her chair. Damn did she feel good or what. First she was able to shower – uninterrupted. Then she was able to actually change into clean clothes; that might not mean much to some but considering she’d been dying to get into some clean clothes for some time now, she was more than a happy camper. Then Mr. Popo made her possibly the best feast she had ever eaten in her life and now she can actually _sleep_ _peacefully_ in a comfortable ass bed – a natural sleep, not one that was induced by being knocked out by that disgusting bug.

Collapsing onto the bed felt like one of the best feelings in the world. It felt as if her whole body turned to mush as the bed welcomed her into its comfort. In no time she was drifting off into sleep…

_“Dani... Where are you Dani? Where are you hiding?”_

_That voice, it- it sounded familiar…_

_“You know you cannot run. You know you cannot hide.”_

_Nooo! Please dear god nooo! It couldn’t be! She felt her arms being held firmly above her head as a large hand slowly wrapped around her neck yet she couldn’t see anything… she couldn’t see anything at all. Suddenly she was slammed, hard, against a flat surface she didn’t even know was there in this void-like world._

_“Wherever you may be, I will find you and I will have you watch as I slaughter those Z-Fighters one…by…one… slowly, painfully, and at my utmost pleasure.”_

_She couldn’t move! Her air was being cut off painstakingly slow. It was getting harder and harder to breathe with each word that was said._

_“Then you and I will eradicate the beings of this planet one by one. Their petrified expressions and cries of fear will send chills of excitement running along your spine.”_

_“N-no,” she managed to breathe out with what little oxygen she had left._

_“No?” his voice sounded amused as he squeezed the rest of the air out of her before letting go of her neck at the very last second before she completely passed out. Her head hung down as she tried to catch her breath. “No you say?” he said awfully calm._

_Next thing she knew he roughly grabbed her chin and brought her face up. Only then did she actually see him for the first time, his face awfully close to hers._

_“My dear, look at me,” he chuckled, tilting her chin up as her eyes began to drift away. “You have every reason to be angry at them. You have every reason to hate them.”_

_“I-”_

_“Yes? Speechless, aren’t we? Well isn’t this a rare sight.”_

_“Shut up,” she struggled to free her arms but to no avail. “I just-”_

_“You’ll just what? You’ll tell me just where exactly you are, is what you’ll do. Then we’ll thoroughly cleanse this planet of its pests,” he spoke in a dark, husky voice as he slowly released her arms and chin._

_“Do you really think you can win against Goku?” she looked up at him with a sly expression. “He did after all whisk in and out of our training within a blink of an eye. Or do I need to remind you of just how easily he made you look like a-”_

_He slammed his hands on the wall, very close to either side of her head. Her hands immediately went to his chest._

_“I KNOW, what happened. And he will pay dearly for that. As will all of the Z fighters.”_

_“And then what? Hmm?” she tapped her index fingers against his chest._

_“You know well what happens next my dear,” he smirked._

_“Ah yes, WE will then clean this planet up. I got that part pretty clearly. But what happens then? And how exactly is this ‘we’ business going to happen when you don’t even know where I am.”_

_He instantly grabbed her chin and brought her face close to his. He could sense her discomfort. She was squirming and gripping his arm. He took the opportunity to once again hold her hands above her head in a very tight hold._

_“Stop doing that-”_

_She froze when she looked at him. She didn’t realize just how close they were until now. Her heart was furiously beating in her chest. She swore she could hear it within the void-like world they were in._

_“I found you asleep,” his breathed huskily. “I can find you awake.”_

* * *

“Close,” Cell mused as he flew up in space to train. “So close.”

* * *

Her eyes snapped open. She sat up and realized she had been sweating. She glanced at her wrists and noticed she had no marks, no bruises. She walked over to the mirror to look at her neck. Again, no marks, no bruises. Only when she looked at her face did she see something… on her lips.

Blood… fresh blood… on her bottom lip.

How did she not see that, or even feel that, before? Did she just bite herself waking up? Or…

She lapped up the blood with her tongue and went to go look for Mr. Popo. She found him outside watering the plants as usual.

“Mr. Popo.”

“Ah, Dani, what can I do for you?”

“I need to know when the Hyperbolic Time Chamber will be available…”


	8. Chapter 8

“Holy crap I’m dying,” Dani breathed on all fours and drenched in sweat. She didn’t even know how long she’d been in the chamber but she knew it probably wasn’t that long. She had gotten used to the initial change in gravity once she had stepped over the threshold, but now she was trying to push her limits as much as possible by going farther in and training under the different shifts of gravity, the denser air, and fluctuations in temperature.

She could proudly say that she was making progress. It was slow progress but by this point she didn’t spend much of her time trying to stand after being flatted out like a pancake due to the mere gravity.

Sitting in the tub, she felt her muscles relax under the warm water. Sighing, she wondered just what her life had come to. Just how exactly did things turn out the way they were now? Was it because she insulted him in his first form? Or was it because he was never able to finish her off during their first encounter? Albeit, that only happened, or rather did not happen, because Piccolo intervened. But still, she survived and flipped him off.

It seemed rather foolish to reflect in such a way when probably only a month, not even, had gone by. It seemed longer though considering time in the chamber passed differently than on the outside. What seemed more foolish to her was that she was uncertain about almost everything pertaining to her own future now. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew Cell was too powerful; even more powerful than what he bragged and boasted about. She wanted to have faith in her comrades, but deep down she knew he would be too much for them. She didn’t want to see any of them die, but she was well aware that they were willing to fight until the very end when it came to the safety and wellbeing of others.

But then, what would happen to her?

She groaned. “I. Don’t. Even. Know. What. I’m. Doing. Anymore.”

She could contradict herself all she wanted but the underlying truth was that she wasn’t even sure whether she wanted to live or die. No one ever wanted to die; yet no one ever wanted to live feeling like a caged animal. Cell had the power to end her life in an instant. He had the power to make it slow and painful, or instantly. If that was the case, why had he not killed her yet? Oh that’s right, he had told her that he wouldn’t kill her, surprisingly. She bitched at him, constantly. She mouthed off at him, continuously. She disrespected him, relentlessly. She persistently trekked on the fine line that was her life and for what? Nothing? _Really_?

It was all just a game to him. A sick one. It was beginning to drive her mad.

That’s just what he probably wanted though. For her to lose her mind and unleash this ‘Saiyan potential’ that he was so interested in.

Who knew if he was even interested in this so called ‘Saiyan power’ she ‘supposedly’ possessed. It was probably just a means to ease his own boredom; another damn game of his.

That bastard liked to play games. He liked to be the one to set the rules to his little games. If these damn games weren’t the reason why she lost her mind, then she didn’t know what would be.

But perhaps... for the sake of her own sanity, she’d have to start playing some games of her own. Or perhaps play along with his games but twist the rules in her favor.

Ahhh, but for now she would enjoy the time away from Earth and continue on with her training.

* * *

Up in space, right outside Earth’s atmosphere. . .

“You’re close, so close my dear Dani,” Cell mused to himself as he looked down on the planet. He still could not sense her. This by all means could not have been possible. He was a perfect being. _The _perfect being. He could sense her whereabouts no matter how hard she tried to hide and suppress her energy. She could not be on the planet, but how was that possible?

Wait- that was it! She _wasn’t_ on the planet, yet she was. She was somewhere far away yet at the same time, right under his nose…

He slowly made his way down to the lookout, making sure to completely suppress his energy. It was late at night and he wouldn’t want to bring about some _unwanted_ _guests_.

“Ah Piccolo how your cells have been of most use to me,” he chuckled as he made his way into the hallway with a soft click of his footsteps. Not only did Piccolo’s cells give him regenerative abilities, but vast knowledge and wisdom from the minds of both Piccolo and Kami. Finding the lookout was no problem after that.

Reaching his desired destination, he opened the door and stepped into the chamber. Taking in the chamber, he felt her presence within it almost immediately. It felt a bit different, but it was definitely there. The living space was empty which meant his little Saiyan friend was somewhere out in the chamber.

Stepping out into the threshold didn’t faze him in the slightest. He took in the chamber once again and figured that this must be where the Z-Fighters were training. No matter. An added year of training would do them no good. He would still come out victorious no matter how many years were spent in the chamber.

* * *

Dani was dying… again. She ventured further into the chamber and continued pushing herself to new heights. Not only was there the new gravity to adjust to but the sudden spike in temperatures didn’t make breathing any easier. After nonstop hours of that, she was able to overcome it given she did pass out a couple of times.

In the chamber there was no night or day so she had to rely on her body’s natural clock to determine when it was time for bed. And right now, her body was saying it was way past her bedtime. Bedtime would come however, after she properly showered and fed her stomach with some much needed food.

Walking back, she could see something out in the distance. Was the chamber trying to mess with her mind again by creating illusions? She was exhausted and hungry. That could be the only explanation. But damn, it looked so real. It was tall… and it looked a lot like…

“Oh crap.”

No point in running. He had already found her. There was nowhere in the chamber to go. Nowhere in the world to go. If the chamber was in a separate dimension between the confines of time and space, and here he was, then there really was nowhere else to possibly hide.

“Hello my dear,” Cell greeted with a dark grin.

“I take it you missed me,” she replied with a smug grin of her own.

“How long have you been in this chamber?”

She closed her eyes in thought, “Umm, a few months now. Like four.”

So she still had eight months left… interesting. Most interesting indeed! He could make good use of those months. Taking in her current condition, he was certain she had been training on her own.

He snapped his arm out to grab her but she slapped his hand away.

“Whoa,” she laughed slowly stepping back, surprised she was actually able to block him at such proximity. Looks like the training actually helped out… to some degree.

Pink eyes narrowed when she somehow managed to evade his attack again. Now was the time to test out her training. He charged at her and attacked with an array of kicks and punches. She was surprisingly doing better than before, of course, still nowhere close to him. A close call was all he needed to thoroughly take control of this little session.

She completely lost her focus when he suddenly appeared before her, face to face. A bit _too_ close for her liking. With a smug expression, his large hand was literally over her face as he threw her forward. Flying backwards, her head hit the floor hard before flipping over and sliding on the chamber floor as if it were coated with a fresh new layer of wax. Body facing down, she held the back of her head muttering obscenities to herself.

“Get up.”

She could see his feet a small distance from her. She wouldn’t dare look up at him.

“No, I like it down here,” her muffled voice replied.

She felt herself being jerked up by the back of her shirt then thrown back towards the vast emptiness of the chamber. She landed hard but before she could even make the effort to stand up he had roughly pulled her up by the back of her shirt again. Only this time he held her out at eye level to him.

“Son of a bitch,” she gritted only to look straight into his pink glare.

“You’ve made some progress, even if miniscule.”

“Aha, but it’s something,” she pointed at him, still dangling from his grip. “Ugh, who am I kidding? This is getting ridiculous. You know what? Fine. Whatever, you win. I’ll listen to whatever you want and will no longer try to run away from you. Now let go.”

“What brought about this decision?” a question he already knew the answer to but the pleasure from hearing it from her lips was oh so satisfying.

Eyes narrowed. “What else is there left? You somehow indirectly found me while I was on the lookout. And you’re here right now. I want to believe in the ones that will oppose you but I know that despite how much strength and power you’ve enjoyed showing off for the sake of your own sick amusement and their displeasure, there is still a lot more your arrogant ass is storing away. Again, you are here right now, in the chamber. What hope is there now?”

“Like there ever was,” he scoffed smugly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You can easily kill me whenever you want. That much is certain. You say you won’t, but how exactly can I be certain of that? Because of such, I want to experience things from a different perspective before I die from whatever unnatural causes might befall me.”

With him standing before her, her mind was absolutely set. Run away and certainly die or stay and live. She didn’t want to live her life in constant fear for when Cell would kill them all should she have joined the Z-Fighters. She felt terrible. She really did. The only fighters seen worthy of any challenge to Cell were the Saiyans. Gohan was just a kid. Trunks’ own bulk in his powered state slowed him down. Vegeta was a tempered mess. And all that left was Goku, whom everyone seemed to rally their hopes around.

She said she wouldn’t give up without a fight and she didn’t. She’d been fighting for too damn long and she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life doing so. She wasn’t even thirty yet! She didn’t want to keep doing this crap forever. If valuing her own life made her the enemy, then so be it. If they managed to defeat Cell, great, if not, she wouldn’t die whatever painful death Cell had planned for those that would oppose him. She was too exhausted to have decent morals. But none of that meant that she would change her treatment of him. Surely that would result in her death, but hey, that beat constant fear. For that reason, seeing and experiencing things from a different perspective would be interesting.

“Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m done for the day. I’m exhausted, filthy, hungry, and probably sleep deprived. Train all you want. You won’t see me bothering you.”

“Finally defeated?” a smug expression played on his perfect features.

She stopped in her tracks and looked back at him. “Not exactly, trust me. I’m just over _this_,” she motioned between them alluding to the situation they had found themselves in since they first met. She continued back towards the living space, not giving a damn for whatever Cell decided to do within the chamber. Undoubtedly, he would continue to test out his perfect form.

‘_Whatever, that’s not my problem to deal with anymore.’_

* * *

Her year inside the chamber was almost up and she was pretty sure that Cell was now the most powerful being ever. He was powerful enough when he arrived on the scene. Now give him a few months to increase his power and what else would you expect. Oh but fret not it was not always about him. He would oftentimes spare some of his precious time to drag Dani back into the chamber for some training.

The time spent together was… bearable. Before the chamber, she probably hadn’t known Cell for two whole weeks. Everything blew up and happened so quickly that it was hard to believe that so much had happened in so little time. Once within the chamber, she was able to spend a good few months in solitude away from him, away from the world. A few months later and she was now forced to be in his presence every single day for eight months. He was a narcissistic and arrogant bastard yet it really didn’t help that she sometimes found him strangely handsome and attractive. It was all the damn hormones. Plus the damn dry spell only made things worse…

When first entering the chamber, Cell had no intention in ‘training’. Why train when he was already the most powerful, perfect being out there? Before entering, most of his time was spent meditating and just waiting for the day of his Cell Games to arrive. Upon entering, he supposed it would do no harm in _warming up_ and releasing some energy beforehand. The chamber was unique in that it appeared to go on forever. There was no end. No limits. He could freely test out his power just shy of the tournament. Heh, _tournament,_ it was going to be more of a show if anything. A show for the Z-Fighters to make fools of themselves and a show for them to see firsthand just how powerful his perfection was, something his little Saiyan friend had the honor to witness before anyone else.

As a true Saiyan, her power increased the more she fought. She had ceased trying to escape him, finally seeing the truth behind his words, but that didn’t mean he had seen the end of her attitude. As the time progressed, he had _definitely_ not seen the end of her attitude and rambunctious behavior.

Had he grown fond of the Saiyan? Fond was an understatement. She constantly tested his patience and disrespected him, but he was proud of himself for bringing out such a side from his companion. It made the months, bearable. He was glad he never killed her when they first met. She was an interesting one indeed. The last of her kind. And perhaps, of very much use to him. An idea crossed his mind… one that could possibly lead to a very interesting experiment…

It was another ‘training day’, the last one in fact, and Dani was once again exhausted. Luckily it was over and she found herself sitting on the floor, arms propped behind her, gazing at the emptiness of the chamber. She took it all in considering she didn’t think she would ever be back in here. Her little daydream was broken at the sound of those unmistakable footsteps.

“Not bad, my dear Dani. Quite an improvement.”

Whether he was being sincere or just belittling her, she _really_ didn’t care.

“How exactly did you plan on making any progress at all without my presence to begin with? You do have at least _some_ standards to live up to.”

And _there_ was the insult.

“It’s kind of hard to even ‘try’ to live up to standards I know absolutely nothing about.”

“You are one of the last pure, full blooded Saiyans. How does it feel to be one of the last pure beings in an endangered breed?”

“Like I have absolutely no idea what’s going on,” she glanced up at him with a grin.

“Oh but I think you do know what’s going on.”

“Enlighten me then good sir,” she stood to face him.

“You are the _last female_ of the Saiyan race. When my tournament arrives, you’ll be the last Saiyan alive.”

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious.”

“Tell me Dani, you still seem very much young and _lively_, had you ever in your life considered reproducing?” the question left his mouth so smoothly it caught her completely off guard.

_The fu- reproducing? As in having kids? Me? have kids?_

He couldn’t help the chuckled that escaped his lips upon seeing her reaction. He got her.

“Wha-”

“Had it ever occurred to you that you are the last chance your race has in producing offspring with a strong power line?”

An embryo can only be as strong as that which will allow it to grow. Otherwise it has to adjust itself, weaken if you will, as to not kill its host. The cells speak for themselves. No pun intended.

Dani had no idea what the hell was going on. Where the hell did this come from? And why was this conversation even happening?

“Why are we talking about my reproducing? It’s none of your business and if anything, you seem more interested in it than me.”

“It is rather interesting, for you see, you don’t fail to disappoint your race yet again,” he replied with a smug expression.

Aaaaaand there it was _again_. Arms crossed over his chest, looking down at her, he was just trying to bring her down. Nope. She could play his cheap games just as well.

“Alright, I see what you’re doing,” she waved her finger at him with a mischievous grin. “I’ll give you this one only because I’m tired and because I don’t want to make you or your ego cry with what I could say.”

Eyebrows raised in amusement at her remarks. “Is that so?” His voice deep and sultry as he took a step forward. “Why don’t you enlighten me with your kind words, _my_ _dear_ Dani.”

“Don’t _tempt_ me. I could easily hurt your feelings.”

“Temptations are easy to fall into.” He took another step closer.

“You’re right, but these temptations are best kept inside my head,” she gave him a cheeky smile, taking a step back before turning heel and making her way back towards the living space.

Sometime later, Dani was fast asleep in what would be her last ‘night’ inside the chamber. Cell had made his way over to the living space and over to where she slept. She looked so peaceful, so _vulnerable._

His mind wandered to that ‘idea’ he had had, as well as to their earlier conversation, or for what it was at least.

_“... last chance in producing powerful offspring...”_

All of her potential suitors were taken. All that were left were a brat and a beefed up punk nearly ten years her minor. She alone carried inherited and inheritably strong Saiyan genes. Power was naturally in her code; whether she knew how to actually tap into it or not... or if she _chose_ to tap into it or not. However, should she mate with another being with strong, pure Saiyan genes, perhaps even stronger Saiyan genes than those of the remaining full blooded Saiyans, then perhaps that offspring had the potential to be the strongest Saiyan to ever exist. Perhaps, that being didn’t even have to be Saiyan. Perhaps that being had more than just Saiyan genes in his code. Perhaps that being was already the most powerful force unlike any other…

Perhaps in the near future, the world would be seeing a new powerful force, second to him of course.

‘_Ah Dani. My dear Dani, you will once again witness firsthand something far too great.’_

* * *

It was the middle of the night when the two emerged from the chamber. Exactly twenty four hours. She couldn’t remember why she had gone in so late in the first place. She didn’t really care as she basically dragged herself back to her room while Cell took off towards his arena. She was still tired and her body ached all over, particularly her lower-right back and lower abdomen. Damn, it felt as if someone had stabbed her with a needle. She had no idea how she even injured herself there. Hell, she’d been thrown around so much she was surprised she had not felt any pain in her back at all. Who knows, she probably finally smashed a nerve and that was what was causing the pain. Whatever, the Cell Games were a few days away and she would be sleeping until then.


	9. Chapter 9

The sun was setting over the horizon as Cell stood at the center of his arena, eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest. Only hours remained until his tournament. Hours until he would show the whole world his power. Hours until the Z Fighters would be no more. All that would remain would be-

Eyes slowly opened upon sensing a presence approaching him. A smirk played at his lips, recognizing the presence all too well… Yes, _too well_.

“My my what a surpri-”

He wasn’t expecting that blow to the face…

_WHY THAT LITTLE_-

He was about to retaliate, but seeing her seethe made his smirk return.

“Cell you damn bastard! What the hell did you do to me?!” Dani gritted.

“You must be mistaken my dear. I haven’t done a single thing since you arrived on the lookout.”

When they had left the chamber, she had stayed ‘safely’ on the lookout while Cell returned to the tournament site. No, but it was before that. It was while they were in the chamber! It must have been! But what? She didn’t even know, but she knew it had something to do with that son of a-

“How are you feeling by the way?” his smirk widened when she glared up at him.

“What did you do-”

“I did not do anything that would make you any more of an embarrassment to your people than what you already are.”

Twitch.

“In fact, I did quite the opposite. Being the last female of a very soon-to-be-extinct race, I merely put your body, or rather, your unique _female abilities_ to good use seeing as how you would not be any time soon.”

What. The. FUCK!

“Judging by your enraged expression, I’m assuming it worked after all.”

She really hoped he didn’t mean what she thought he meant! Fuuuuuuuu…

“What gives you the damn right to do as you please with _my_ body?” if only she could erase his damn existence with her mind! Boom! And he’d be gone just like that!

He began to slowly advance towards her. Arms crossed over his chest, voice stern. “Do not forget _my dear_, that the sole reason you are alive now is because of me. Your life is, has always been, and will always be in my hands. I could end it all now if I so desired, but that would be a waste of a _perfectly_ good experiment. Your very existence belongs to me and I can do what I see fit with _your_ body.”

Her face flushed. Her sly mind taking a second meaning to the last thing he said. But she was the dumbass that edged him on. Damn it! And why the hell was she blushing?!?!? This is no time to be blushing! But thank god it was dark now. But still!

“You’d better terminate your damn experiment before it’s too late,” she tried to regain her composure. “I don’t want to be a damn factor in anything that has to do with you.”

At this he chuckled. “I’m afraid it’s already too late. Do you hate me so much? Do you condemn my very being?” A dark grin settled on his perfect features as he leaned uncomfortably close to her. “For someone who despises me so much,” he began in a low, sultry voice, “your body was rather, _very_ _receptive_ to my DNA.”

Internal screaming. That’s all there was – internal screaming. Her face was probably on fire again and she couldn’t control it. But that bastard… that _damn_ bastard was doing it on purpose. It was all intentional on his part just so he could rile her up and get under her skin in the most _perfect_ of ways – the ways that left her completely speechless with not even the cognitive ability to immediately throw something back and retaliate.

The worst thing about it was that there was no real way to retaliate. She could throw insults at him but that usually ended in being told to watch her mouth followed by a threat that he would follow through with. Any form of attack was off the table because that would usually end with her face down on the ground after being ‘tossed’ into a mountain or something...

Damn it! What the hell! There must be something! Something she could get him with! Otherwise her damn dirty mind would be the end of her… wait! That’s it! Bastard was playing dirty, then so would she!

“You’re rather speechless tonight,” he proclaimed smugly. “Have we finally given up?”

“Ha, you would like that wouldn’t you? To just give up and _succumb_ to your will. Hmm? Well too bad. You _wish_ you could own me. You _wish_ I could be _receptive_ of you. You _wish_ I would let you do ‘_whatever _you so desired’ with _my_ body. Haha too bad you perverted son of a bitch!”

Jaw clenched, he stalked towards her. “Best watch your pretty little mouth _my dear_.”

“Or what?” she smugly challenged with her arms crossed defiantly over her chest.

Hand full of her shirt, he dangerously pulled her up to his level. She couldn’t help but notice how close their faces were due to his obvious rage but also that her body was practically flush against his. But now was not the time to think about that… regardless of how tempting it may be.

“I warned you-”

“Aha but I’m warning _you_ now,” she cheekily pointed her finger at him, “Do something and I’ll make sure to screw with your damn experiment as much as possible. It is _my_ body after all and I can do whatever the hell I want, even if it kills me. You think I won’t? Try me. What the hell do I even have to live for? Some fun here and there? A different perspective of things? Psh, please.”

That definitely got his attention.

“If you so even think to-”

“You’ll what? Hmm? Threatening me when I’m prepared to throw my life away just for the sake of ruining your damn experiment? Ha. Hope you have fun trying to find someone else for your damn game.”

She could feel the pull on her shirt get tighter as he clenched his fist even harder.

“I’ll tell you what, _set_ me down and I’m sure we can come to an agreement like the civilized people we are,” she grinned, seeing the twitch in his features.

But he wouldn’t let go. He was actually debating it. Surely she valued her life, yet she was a reckless one. She was a Saiyan. She was, unfortunately, the only one. An opportunity like this would not present itself in the future.

Was he spacing out? Or deep in thought? His hold was still tight, very tight, and she could feel herself slipping. Literally. If he didn’t let go she would probably slip right out of her shirt.

“… ell… Cell. Cell! Damn it, Cell! If you don’t let go I swear I’m about to slip right out and oho, what a show that’ll be!”

He blinked and looked down between them-

“DON’T LOOK THERE!” she squealed, instinctively slapping him across the face and landing on her feet as he abruptly let go.

Did she just- Was he just- _slapped_? Why, was he just slapped? And why the hell was his cheek actually stinging? What the hell was this? She just struck him for no damn apparent reason! What the hell did he do? He just looked down and……………………. got……….. a face full of cleavage……………….

“Dani-”

“No you perverted bastard!”

_Twitch._

Her back was to him with her arms crossed over her chest.

He was really beginning to lose his patience, even more so than before. By this point he probably wouldn’t even mind throwing it all away if it meant reminding the damn Saiyan her place in this world. He’d more than tolerated her insufferable attitude and behavior towards him time and time again, but perhaps now some _proper_ discipline was in order for her to properly behave herself…

“Dani,” he began again, this time with more of his usual composure.

“Hmm?” she glanced over her shoulder at him, very uninterested in what he had to say.

Then again he was probably asking for the impossible…

* * *

Lying in bed, Dani frowned staring up at the ceiling of her room. She felt tired yet she couldn’t fall asleep no matter how long she kept her eyes closed. The Cell Games were in less than 24 hours. Cell had told her to stay on the lookout until it was all over, that there was no reason for her to even show up when ‘_we all knew what the outcome would be_.’ She wanted to see them though… see them fight – the Z Fighters, that is.

She felt guilty… really guilty… that much hadn’t changed. She had never seen Goku fight, never even seen the slightest of his power. But everyone seemed to rally all of their hopes around him and somehow she wondered if she had too. Cell was strong. Very strong. Powerful. And handsome. Very handso- wait, what? No. What? No! Why was her brain turning to mush!

“Damn it all,” she groaned rubbing her eyes, finally beginning to feel herself drift off.

The atmosphere the following day was, unnerving. Very grim. The tension was almost suffocating and being on the damn lookout didn’t help with anything.

Mr. Popo was going to deliver something that might cheer Dani up when he noticed her sitting next to the flowers, staring off into the sky. Her expression appeared to be that of uncertainty.

“What bothers you?” he asked gently, standing beside her, as he too, stared off into the sky.

She signed, raking a hand through her hair, “Today. Everything about it.”

Mr. Popo nodded. Yes, the tournament. The only thing on everyone’s mind. The fate of everything would be decided. “Will you not compete?”

She scoffed softly, “Me? Compete in something like that? I can’t. Not strong enough.”

“I believe you are strong. I believe you are capable of being just as strong as the other Saiyans if you have faith in yourself, your own abilities, and your own potential. You must not think about physical strength. Anyone can have physical strength. True strength lies in here, in your heart. The bigger the heart, the bigger the strength. If you believe in yourself, in the strength within, then there is nothing you can’t do.”

A small smile actually graced her face as she rose to her feet. “Thank you, Mr. Popo. I think I might actually go down to that tournament and see things for myself.”

Before she could take off, Mr. Popo handed her what appeared to be a new change of clothes. After thanking him she immediately changed into them in the privacy of her room. Dani had nearly forgotten how good it felt to be in clean, new clothes, and the fact that they were loose and flowy made her love them even more!

A beautiful, sleeveless white robe that reached past her knees accompanied with a black long-sleeved undershirt and white pants that collected at her ankles to meet her black ankle-high boots. However, what Dani loved most of all, was the sash – the absolutely divine, gold-colored sash that had an elaborate, deep-magenta diamond pattern towards the ends that settled in until the ends were no longer gold but rather deep-magenta.

With the sash tied securely on the right side of her waist, she cast one more look in the mirror, absolutely loving Popo’s gift. This sure did one hell of a job in cheering her up, and the fact that Mr. Popo told her the clothes were very durable and resistant to dirt and damage made her even happier. She was tired of having her clingy clothes easily wear and tear down. And the boots. Ugh, she wouldn’t even get started on those cheap, bulky boots that caused her more pain than comfort. But now, ah now she actually had some comfortable and durable footwear along with the most comfortable and potentially durable clothing she’s ever had.

She couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that despite everything that has happened to her, everything going on, a fresh new change of clothes had the power to really brighten her mood. Right now, the only thing she probably had going for her was the beautiful gold and maroon sash tied at her waist. Ahh how she loved her sash…

She wasted no more time and took off towards the arena. At this rate she would make it just in time to see it all begin. She wondered who would be there and who would actually compete. As far as she knew, Piccolo, Tien, Krillin, Trunks, and Vegeta had each fought or had some kind of scrimmage with Cell in either his current of previous forms. Whether they would all actually participate or leave it all to Goku, she could only wonder. Speaking of wondering, she wondered if it would even be a good idea to drop down anywhere near the arena. Cell had told her to stay put on the lookout but even now she was pretty sure that he could sense her approaching no matter how hard she tried to hide her energy. And if she were to greet the fighters, it would all just create an awkward and probably a very unwanted situation. Yeah, they were the ones that ‘secured’ her on the lookout, or rather Goku, but knowing Cell, he would probably call her out on the decisions she’d made recently. That would not be good. Not. Good. At. All.

The arena was finally coming into view. Chills ran down her spine as everything suddenly became more real. She landed and seated herself on a cliff away from the sight of the Z-Fighters a ways below, but still within range for her to be able to see and sense the action.

The tournament was officially underway as the first fighter stepped up. Odd. It wasn’t someone she recognized. But who else would have the nerve to go up against Cell? With such a low power, that person would either have to have balls of steel or be a complete idiot… Wait a sec.. was that… was that Mr. Satan? It _was_ him! Heh, idiot indeed. Now there _once stood_ Mr. Satan as Cell sent him flying out of the arena with a simple flick of his wrist. With Hercule disqualified, it was now Goku’s turn.

Dani was a bit lost expecting Goku to be last. Either he had a plan or was that confident in defeating Cell. The two power houses seized each other up after a small exchange of words. Dani couldn’t help but notice that Cell glanced up the slightest to stare right at her.

She fucking knew it…

The very much anticipated battle was finally in progress. Much to her surprise, Goku was keeping up with Cell. But, was that supposed to be right? Was Goku this righteously strong? Or was Cell withholding power for the sake of prolonging the battle he had waited his entire existence for? No, Cell was definitely holding back. She’d seen his new power firsthand. She knew just how strong and terrifying he could be. And this was definitely not it. He loved to fight strong opponents. If suppressing some power was necessary in order for his battle to last until he grew tired of it, then so be it.

The battle continued on, with both Goku and Cell having their close calls at being disqualified. Could it all really be won by something as simple as a disqualification? According to the rules it was possible. But then what? Should Cell step out of the ring and be disqualified, that wouldn’t exactly solve the problem.

After feeling the fighting calm slightly, she glanced up in time to see Cell destroy the ring, finally having tired of being confined to it. She couldn’t help but feel a bit pissed off at the destruction of it. Before if she had even sweat the slightest on it, she would feel his wrath. And now for that bastard to destroy it so casually... she should have spit on it when she had the chance.

With the ring now gone, it was an all out fight. Only the strongest would come out on top. Or so she thought. Her mouth was probably gaping wide open like everyone else’s when Goku announced he was giving up and that there was a fighter much stronger than he to take on Cell. Who the hell was stronger than Goku? That man was capable of blasting Cell with an attack that could have destroyed the planet right then and there should it have not been pointed upwards. Yeah Cell was able to regenerate his entire upper body back to normal but that was beside the point. The point was holy crap Goku was strong! After seeing all of the display of raw power, she still couldn’t believe he was throwing in the towel.

If she couldn’t believe that, she most definitely couldn’t believe who he picked to fight Cell. Her jaw dropped when he called upon Gohan. Gohan?! What?! Why?! Was Goku crazy? She was leaning towards a yes as Goku threw a Senzu Bean over to Cell. Goku was sending his very own child to his death! Even if Cell had used up a lot of power during his fight with Goku, Dani knew it was absolutely nothing, miniscule, compared to what he was hiding away. And now that he was one hundred percent again up against a child, Dani wasn’t sure if she could watch this. She knew Cell was frustrated because of the way Goku ended their fight, which is why she was positive he was going to take it out on the poor boy. She was absolutely certain that Cell was going to make Gohan suffer in front of Goku and the others just to torture Goku and make him regret his decision.

Sitting on the cliff, she wasn’t sure she could take it anymore. Gohan was no match and Cell just kept on feeding off the boy’s pain. Every time she was able to bring herself to watch the one-sided fight, she couldn’t help but notice something about Gohan… he appeared to be… holding back… Was he crazy?! Did he even know who he was fighting? This was Cell! Gohan needed to go all out, not worry about the enemy’s safety! Fuck Cell!

This was all too much. What more could possibly happen? Oh yeah, Cell just fucking created miniature versions of himself! WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!?! If that son of a bitch could create miniature versions of himself, what the fuck was this damn experiment for?!!!!

“That’s it. I’m done,” she grumbled to herself, very pissed off, as she rose and began to dust herself off. “The hell with Cell. The hell with this damn tournament. The hell with-”

She turned around to find herself staring down at one of Cell’s juniors. Hell. No. That son of a bitch. She was too pissed to deal with this. “What?” she snapped at it before turning around to glare at the pretentious prick standing oh-so-smug as his juniors completely destroyed the Z-Fighters. Oh and would you look at that, he had time to fucking spare as he cast a very smug smirk in her direction. “At least someone’s enjoying themselves,” she mumbled before plopping down on the cliff once again. The junior left immediately afterward.

“Well aren’t I fucking special.”


	10. Chapter 10

She couldn’t believe what she was being _forced_ to watch. Yes, _forced_. Throughout the entire time, she never had to fight a Junior. Yet if she tried to leave she was dragged back to her spot, forced to watch Cell in all of his perfect glory. Now that he had ordered the death of everyone in the area, she couldn’t escape the cries of pain filling the air as the Juniors stepped up their brutality.

She couldn’t escape. She just couldn’t. There was nothing she could do. She felt so useless. And she knew that was Cell’s plan all along. If she actually did fight or even managed to run and hide, it wouldn’t change the fact that there was nothing she could do to save anyone. And now upon seeing 16’s sacrifice… nothing.

However, much to the shock and surprise of everyone present- including Cell, something inside of Gohan finally snapped. His power skyrocketed, his body bulked up, and he had a look of pure determination.

“This is what you wanted, isn’t it Cell?” Dani muttered to herself. “You damn bastard, you don’t mess with someone who cries when they’re angry.”

And that was proven to be true, for Gohan shocked Cell by easily snatching back the bag of Senzu Beans from Cell’s hand. He then disappeared and suddenly reappeared behind her, eliminating the Cell Junior with one hit. Eyes wide, everyone was in absolute disbelief. Gohan then disappeared again and began to effortlessly eliminate the remaining Cell Juniors.

Such speed. Yet so much power. He’d finally ascended to the next level. He did it the right way.

The real battle between Cell and Gohan was about to begin. Dani was no longer being forced to watch. She was free to leave yet something inside her wanted to stay. Something inside her wanted to see the outcome of this battle firsthand. Especially after seeing Cell’s furious expression at the death of his juniors. But something else caught her attention and she was positive Cell had noticed it too.

Right now, everyone was in amazement over the fact that Gohan’s power was greater than that of Cell’s… or so it appeared. They didn’t know. Dani had been around that bastard long enough to know that the power Cell was displaying was nothing. Even in his fight against Goku, nothing. But now with this new development, it felt as if Gohan’s power was close to rivaling Cell’s in his current condition. It was seriously that big of a power surge. That led to the very interesting question regarding Cell actually having trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

If Cell had never entered the chamber, Gohan would have most certainly surpassed him in power. Cell would have been no match and this would have been over soon.

“Heh, ‘I’ve no need to train’ he says,” Dani smirked recalling Cell’s words when he first entered the chamber. “I’m pretty sure you’re glad you did.” Reviewing the situation: Gohan ascended and was currently stronger than Cell; Cell had yet to properly display his power; this led to the high probability that Gohan was actually close to _rivaling_ Cell’s true power, not _surpassing_; Saiyans are stubborn and Gohan could pull some extra power out of nowhere; so could Cell; as far as things were going the advantage was still Cell, but barely. Guess they were going to witness a fair fight after all.

After what appeared to be a pointless staring contest, the two powerhouses were finally fighting it out. The Z fighters were entranced by Gohan’s power. It appeared as though he wasn’t even trying and merely toying with Cell.

Gohan wasn’t trying. Dani could see that as well. But knowing Cell’s power, she could also see that neither was he. Cell was getting a taste of the boy’s newly acquired power. However his damn ego still wanted more. He wanted to see Gohan’s full power. As if being responsible for the boy’s ascension wasn’t enough. However as the fight progressed, it appeared as though he was getting more than what he asked for.

Cell stepped up the power, so did Gohan. Cell increased his speed, so did Gohan. If Dani knew any better, it appeared as though Cell was beginning to lose his cool. Someone was actually as strong as he. And what was worse? He was only at this level because he had actually trained in the chamber. Had he not, this battle would have been over already.

“What’s wrong Cell? Is that all you got?” Gohan smirked. “To think this is what you called perfection.”

Oh no. That did it. That blow to his ego was more than enough to send him over the edge as he charged with a barrage of punches and kicks.

That dumbass! Dani could _clearly_ sense that both of their energies were well on par with each other- wait since when was she able to sense energies to this degree? That son of a _bitch_! This was undoubtedly a result of that damned experiment! It wasn’t a bad thing though –sensing energies – but the fact that only a few days had passed and already a sign of progress unnerved her to a degree. It made her wonder what else would happen to her, and how soon should she expect it. As if this stupid fight wasn’t enough! Both of the fighters’ energies were on par with each other yet it actually looked as if Gohan was getting the upper hand. She didn’t understand. Neither was at full power-

“C’mon Cell!” an arrogant Gohan called out.

By this point Cell had lost all sense of composure as he attacked and yelled like a madman.

That’s when it hit her. Cell had lost his cool. Cell had lost all control of the situation. Gohan kept throwing bait and Cell blindly took it each and every single time. She finally understood. Cell was not being _overpowered_ . . . Cell was being _outsmarted_.

Everyone stared on in shocked as Gohan landed two solid hits on Cell. _Two_ solid punches and Cell was nearly incapacitated. With arms crossed, Dani knew this was the beginning of the end. Such a shame too. Cell was clearly stronger yet he had no composure thus no control at all. He was fighting on ego and pride. Livid that the boy was able to damage him in such a way, he began to throw all sorts of attacks but to no avail. From Destructo-Disks to a Special Beam Cannon… nothing. It eventually led to the two having another exchange of words. Words that seemed to have shaken Cell for he flew up into the sky and began to charge up a Kamehameha. Oh he was going to destroy the Earth now? A little over the top but then again he _was_ out of his mind.

Firing the blast, it appeared as though this really would be the end until Gohan fired an even bigger Kamehameha at the very last second. The sheer power and force behind the attack was enough to cause the ground to crack and throw everyone back. Off went Hercule. Off went his crew. Dani would have been next if she hadn’t felt someone catch her just as she was about to lose her footing. Either way it still resulted in being under a layer of fine dirt.

“Are you alright?”

Sitting up, she realized it was Trunks who had caught her. “Yeah, thanks,” she smiled before trying to shake out some of the dirt from her hair.

“Man, who would’ve though getting rid of Cell would be such a blast,” Krillin said, trying to hit the joke.

“He’s not gone,” Dani motioned up.

“She’s right,” Piccolo agreed, “Cell is still alive.”

Upon looking up, everyone was surprised to see Cell looking not exactly at his best. The blast sure did take its toll on his body. However what surprised them the most was Gohan’s lack of action. It was almost as if he was enjoying Cell’s pain. His new power was beginning to get to his head. Yeah, he did have the right to be arrogant when it came to Cell but right now was not the time for that. Right now he needed to end Cell, not bask at his handiwork.

“Gohan needs to act now. It’s only a matter of time,” Dani warned.

Piccolo immediately understood as he called out to Goku, “Hey! If he waits too long, Cell will regenerate himself!”

Goku in turn ordered Gohan to end Cell but the boy refused. He wanted to let Cell suffer. Goku could not believe what he was hearing. Since when did Gohan…

There was no more time to argue for Cell had finally regenerated himself. As if he wasn’t already enraged before, now she didn’t even know how to categorize it. Cell was finally powering up… but in the worst way possible. His power had skyrocketed – easily surpassing Gohan’s, however in his rage he had bulked up. He charged for Gohan but his size slowed him down considerably.

“Cell can’t catch Gohan,” Trunks spoke. “He’s too bulky, his size is slowing him down. That’s the same mistake he berated me for!”

The group looked on as Gohan continued to toy with Cell. After growing bored of evading Cell’s attacks, Gohan landed a hard kick to Cell’s face followed by a kick to the abdomen. Cell fell to his knees as that last kick really appeared to get to him. He tried to stand but couldn’t. Something wasn’t right. He looked… sick. And on top of that his energy was dropping dramatically. But how? It was almost as if it was being completely drained out of him.

“You sense it too?” Piccolo glanced in Dani’s direction.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on Cell.

“It won’t be long now,” she murmured.

“His life-force is getting weaker,” Goku added.

“And in a moment, Cell’s complete power will have left him for good.”

She stayed silent while looking on. Cell definitely looked sick. Not sick as in disgusting or gross, but rather sick as in something was trying to make its way out of him. Whatever it was, he was trying to keep it down. It appeared as though his body was just not cooperating for, much to the complete and utter shock of everyone present- even himself it seemed, he regurgitated Android 18. Ahh, so that’s why his energy took a dramatic drop. He had the android inside of him the entire time. Dani figured that once the androids had been absorbed that they became a part of his being and just completely ceased to exist. If Cell initially needed the androids to attain perfection, was it possible that by losing said androids he would change back to his- oh would you look at that, Cell just returned to his previous Semi-Perfect form.

“Aha, eww,” she smirked, knowing this was over… or so she thought. Gohan was still toying with Cell! He needed to end it right away! If the boy’s father could not get through to him then she wondered what would. It was only a matter of time before Cell tried something desperate in an attempt to get his way. He annoyingly always did.

Almost as if on cue, Cell declared he was going to blow himself up and take everyone along with him. She knew it. She knew it was too good to be true. And now with Gohan unable to do anything, Cell knew he had won. Damn it, he was right. He always got his way. Was she a fool for having some sense of hope? Or was she a fool in doubting him?

One minute left before it was all over. And just when she had finally found her resolve. Her selfish resolve to live no matter what, to live if it meant having to deal with his pretentious ego, and to live in order to view things from a different perspective – even if it meant being hated by everyone else. If he had taken things seriously from the beginning, her life would have been guaranteed. But now? It was all over.

Forty seconds left and Gohan was on his knees admitting defeat. Not that it would do anything now with Cell only getting bigger and bigger. That’s when she noticed Goku deep in thought before looking at them and… smiling? He just smiled at them?!

“Listen, there’s not much time left and I can only think of one way to save the Earth now,” he began.

What the hell was he talking about?! 

“No, don’t! I think I know what you have planned Goku,” Trunks protested.

She glanced over at him and slowly began to realize as well.

“Goodbye, friends,” Goku waved at them before disappearing and reappearing before Cell.

With only ten seconds left, he bid farewell to his son before disappearing along with Cell.

It was silent as everyone stood in disbelief over the noble sacrifice of Goku. After a while Krillin went over to the crying Gohan. She watched on as he knelt down and tried to confront the boy. She glanced up and around her, getting an unnerving feeling. Cell was gone. She couldn’t sense him at all. So then why was she still not able to relax? Why was she not at peace? Why did she feel so paranoid?

“We should get going,” she suggested noticing the winds slowly beginning to pick up. Like hell would she be rubbing any more dirt out of her eyes.

“Right,” Trunks nodded.

Just as they were about to depart, a giant gust of wind nearly knocked them over before they felt something all too familiar.

He was back. She fucking knew it. The air was crackling with surges of blue electricity similar to Gohan’s, only this power, this energy felt much too frightening.

A single shot was fired out from the dust cloud, killing Trunks.

“Leaving so soon?” they heard that dark chuckle. The dust cloud finally settled revealing Cell in his perfect form. He explained what everyone was dying to know: how did he survive? He then challenged the fighters to another round if they were brave enough.

Dani’s eyes narrowed. Cell was _never_ surpassed in power, only outsmarted. He was stronger than Gohan the entire time. But now after surviving a near death experience, he was _stronger_ than he had ever been in his perfect form due to his Saiyan genes. He was calm now, albeit a bit deranged after being humiliated, but what made him actually terrifying was the fact that he was collected. It seems as though he had realized his past mistake while on the brink of death.

Gohan answered Cell’s challenge by powering back up but before he could charge, an enraged Vegeta rushed in blindly only to get slapped away. Cell was about to finish him off, only for Gohan to dive in and intervene. In protecting Vegeta, he took on the full force of the attack and broke his left arm as a result. Cell then began to mercilessly pummel the young boy until he was nothing but a bloodied mess.

Unable to stand around and just watch, Piccolo along with Tien, Yamcha, and Krillin charged at Cell but to no avail. He easily beat them within an inch of their lives before simply tossing them aside like garbage. They were alive, but barely.

He wasn’t killing them… which was odd. Dani figured he’d be out to kill everyone right away. But then she realized what was happening. She was being forced to watch the carnage. Trunks was shot dead in an instant right beside her, now everyone was being beaten near death right in front of her.

“Come now Gohan, where is your arrogance now?” Cell mocked, pulling the bloodied boy up by his hair. “Don’t tell me this is all you’ve got!” he forcefully slammed Gohan down. Looking at the carnage, he began to laugh. “You should all consider yourselves lucky for I am feeling mighty generous. This is too much fun yet this is where it will end, for now.”

There was no time to wonder what he said for he began to charge up some energy before releasing it and effectively destroying the area. The blast was powerful. So powerful that it sent everyone flying in all directions. The ground was cracked, there were giant craters everywhere, and another dust cloud had filled the air.

When the dust cloud settled, he was nowhere in sight. He just suddenly disappeared.

“He’s gone,” she breathed, slowly emerging from the pile of rubble that had settled over her fallen form. “I can’t sense him at all.”

_ “..this is where it ends, for now.”_

“Son of a bitch,” she groaned, “He left.”

* * *

One could only imagine the fear that coursed through everyone. Cell was gone but on the promise that he would resume his fun and personally kill everyone one by one in the most slow and painful way possible.

That’s what he wanted. Fear. He wanted everyone to live their lives in constant fear.

And it worked.

No one knew where he was. No one knew when he would suddenly reappear. _No one knew._

After trying to get things back to normal with the Dragon Balls, it didn’t change the status of their current situation.

A day passed… and then a week… followed by a month. And then another. Then another. _Then another._

For the Z-Fighters, each day was spent preparing for when Cell would make his grand appearance.

For Dani, she had left the Z-Fighters shortly after one month for her own personal reasons. She had her own things to deal with now.

Six long and agonizing months passed before they all felt the presence they’d been dreading yet anticipating for all this time.

In those six months, a lot of things changed. For some more than others, particularly for one Saiyan.

What kind of changes?

With Cell’s return, one would have to wait and see.


	11. Chapter 11

Six months…

It’s been six months…

Six months and still nothing.

Well not _nothing._

Glancing over at the small body asleep on the bed… yeah, _nothing_ wasn’t really the correct word. _A lot_ has happened in those six months.

Walking over to the bed, she took a seat on the edge and gazed at the toddler… _her_ toddler.

She’d admit that after the whole Cell Games fiasco, she was weary and unsure of things with nothing but growing fears. Cell was gone, yet with his stupid experiment was left behind with her. She denied it at first. His words… he was only messing with her. Right? But upon noticing two interesting pricks on her body – one on her lower back and the other on her abdomen, she inquired Bulma about some basic anatomy, confirming her worst fear. She was able to figure it out on her own. Cell had shot one of the nerve bundles in her lower back before somehow pricking her abdomen and injecting something into her… _system._ She didn’t know what the hell it was. But whatever _it_ was, it was growing fast. Within the month she was noticing physical changes. Changes she could no longer hide, so she left.

Who knew how long she wandered around, keeping a low profile, before she stumbled upon something rather interesting. She found a nice abandoned house in some lush fields in the middle of who knows where – this would be her new home – however that wasn’t what was interesting. It wasn’t long after she declared the land her new residence that she was greeting but something very, _very_ unexpected.

She was shocked… surprised… she didn’t know what to feel as three Cell Juniors stood before her. However they just stood there. They did nothing at all except look at one another just as confused as she was. The main question on her mind was where the hell did they come from? They shrugged. Did Cell send them? No. When in the hell did Cell create them? Unless he managed to create a few extras during the battle with no one noticing. They nodded. Alright so they were created at the same time as the others… but that didn’t explain what they were doing here. Gohan destroyed- wait. How many did Gohan destroy? She recalled a few trying to escape Gohan but assumed they were all caught. But that still didn’t- ohhhhhh. They ran! They fled the battle! Looking down, they hesitantly nodded. Were there more? No? Okay that was good to hear. But still! Why were they here with her?!

“Nowhere to go.” One said – Holy shit it spoke! She’d only ever heard them laugh at the pain of others and garble nonsense. Well now they weren’t laughing. No one was. They must had been truly terrified of Gohan to have had the nerve to disobey Cell and run from battle. But Cell wasn’t around. Gohan was though. No wonder they kept low. They were afraid of him and didn’t want to die. If they hadn’t done anything then they probably wouldn’t in the near future. She told them to do whatever they wanted. Surprisingly, they never left. Whatever, she had her own things to deal with.

Second month passed and holy crap things were moving fast. The physical proof was definitely showing. Her body was feeling it too. Everything was progressing so fast that she could literally feel every physically internal change occurring inside of her. What normal women dealt with over a long period of nine months, she realized she was going to deal in three. One month equaled one trimester. By the end of the first month, her belly was beginning to show. Now the end of the second, her belly was much more pronounced, and she was running out of time. Only one month left and she was falling deeper and deeper into fear and desperation. Cell’s name was written all over this. Nothing good could come out of whatever was developing inside of her. She couldn’t let this continue and like hell would she be popping out a miniature version of him! He could already do that himself!

It wasn’t until a few days later that she finally hit her lowest point. She was going to end it. This _thing_ would never see the light of day, even if it meant her life in the process. Just as she was about to end it with trembling hands, she felt something… inside of her. It felt, warm… it felt… alive… it felt like… like… a baby… an actual _life_… a _baby_!

The shock along with everything else was just too much. She broke down. After everything, she couldn’t believe herself. She absolutely hated herself. What her fears had nearly driven her to do. _It was a baby!_

The next couple of weeks were mainly spent with little to no movement. It was all going so fast that she could feel all of the shifting going on inside of her until one day she felt the strongest pain she had ever felt in her life. It actually made her cry out. It was so strong she thought she was going to pass out from the pain right then and there. It dawned on her that she was in labor. She couldn’t stand. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t do anything. She was in so much pain she wondered if she would even make it out alive.

One of the juniors busted in only to get kicked out. There was nothing for it to do. It kept its ear pressed against the door while the other two outside tried to peek in through the closed blinds. Were they worried? Possibly. Considering their creator was gone and this woman was the only one to ever treat them like actual living beings, yeah maybe they were kind of worried.

She was pushing… she was pushing as much as she could but the pain and exhaustion from the entire pregnancy had already weakened her considerably. It was just too much. She had made little to no progress. She was beginning to get scared. It was then that she felt another excruciating wave of pain before what felt like a giant relief leave her body. It was silent until she heard crying. She had yet to look at the mass she caught upon exiting her body. But now at the sound of crying, she hesitantly looked down at her arms. Her heart dropped as the tears began to fall. It was… it was a _baby_. She cradled the child to her chest, still not believing that this was what was inside of her, what she was afraid of, what she nearly…

“You’re just a baby,” she cried, “An innocent, little baby.” It was at that moment that she instantly fell in love. Her fears, gone. Every last one of them. Her only care in the world was this little bundle. “I’ll never let anything happen to you...”

If she thought her pregnancy was fast. She was not prepared for the first month. This kid was _growing_. Like damn! How fast? It was the end of the first month and this kid was trying to walk. That was a one year old as far as she knew. So one month now equaled one year? Damn. Aside from that, he appeared to be a normal, happy baby boy… or at least as normal as one could get.

He definitely resembled a Saiyan. He had dark, messy hair, a nice bushy tail, and the most adorable pinchable cheeks. Speaking of his cheeks, something she was positive didn’t come from her, were the two distinctive maroon fang-like markings centered along his cheeks with the points nearly reaching his tiny jaw. It was odd considering Cell’s markings were purple and reached down to his jawline and over to the sides of his face… oh well. Who cared? Her baby was adorable!

Two months and he was waddling everywhere. The one thing she didn’t really understand was the fact that this kid always managed to climb up and perch himself on her shoulders. _Always_. He could barely walk yet he climbed on her like it was nothing. Heh. She couldn’t even believe she was so terrified at one point. How could anyone be terrified of a toddler that cried if he lost his favorite stuffed giraffe, loved to wear his hooded penguin onesie, and absolutely loved his baths? _How?_

It was tricky at first figuring out his growth rate because well she was a mom now. She needed to clothe him and provide for him, and give him all that he needed. And just how did she get these things? Well… _shopping._ They were in the beginning of the fifth month and still no Cell. After the ‘end’ of the Cell Games, Hercule claimed victory and basked in the fame and riches that were to follow the ‘savior’ of the planet. Everyone was at peace. However, two months ago, one of his now former pupils apparently was fed up in not getting the slightest recognition even though he was beside Hercule the entire time the group cowered. He exposed Hercule and revealed that everyone’s hero was nothing but a spineless fraud and that it was uncertain if Cell was ever defeated because the group had been thrown far by the sheer power of the _actual_ fighters; the ones that _actually_ put up an _actual_ fight.

The uncertainty caused a panic among the populous. While there were those that refused to acknowledge what was said, others were terrified. It was the Cell Games announcement all over again. Some people just went back to their everyday tasks but other tried to flee. Idiots. Where could they escape to?

Apparently, they had begun to live underground. Some major companies had begun to build cities underground while the cities above ground were basically abandoned. Dani wondered if Bulma was involved in that construction. She was positive Bulma was still settled above ground but the construction underground would surely bring in a lot of bank.

Either way, abandoned cities! Free things! Not only that but abandoned homes everywhere! And new homes for her to choose from! They relocated to a much better place; very lush in vegetation, ‘secluded’, yet very big. Now _this_ was her home. They were next to a spring and small waterfall, they were basically surrounded by mountains, and the view was absolutely amazing. Shopping trips weren’t bad either. Except for when the juniors first tagged along – which inadvertently caused a panic – but upon disguising themselves there was nothing to really worry about. The place was abandoned but having that extra precaution was always nice. Upon seeing stores filled with stuff, she realized that people were so terrified that they didn’t even dare loot the areas. Sad really. What was even sadder was the sudden increase in suicides. Damn, people would rather take their own lives then let Cell do it. Turns out Cell got what he wanted after all. The world was living in fear.

But not her. She was perfectly fine. Nothing could go wrong… that is until she got a much unexpected visitor.

It was a nice and sunny day so why not spend it next to the spring? The trees providing shade and the spring gave off a nice breeze every now and then, ahhh yes. Just yes. Her little monkey was running around the tree branches playing with squirrels while she relaxed on a branch of her own. She felt a familiar energy… and it was approaching her. Not Cell. Definitely not Cell. Hmm, could it be… no it couldn’t possibly be… why would he still be-

Hiding her energy, she looked down at the figure that landed next to the spring. Hidden by the thick brush, she just surveyed from above. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, or rather _who_ she was seeing… it was Trunks! He was still here? _Why_ was he still here? She thought he went back to his time! Unless he came back… but why? He died once, why risk that again? Ugh, she didn’t understand. He was walking around until-

“Hi!”

Dani could only facepalm.

Trunks was startled by the upside down child that popped out of the trees. He was just dangling there, slowly swinging himself back and forth all the while giggling to himself.

“Hi!” he said again. “My name is Sora. What’s your name?”

“Uhh, Trunks. My name is Trunks.” Who was this kid? And what was he doing here? He couldn’t sense anyone else nearby. Why was this kid all alone? So many questions crossed his mind while he was completely unaware of the four pairs of eyes that were watching him from above.

“Do you want to play with me?” Sora asked, lowering himself with his tail.

Wait- was that a tail?! This kid had a tail! But only one out of the two remaining full-blooded Saiyans had a tail! It appeared as though _he_ was right… sort of.

“Do you?” Sora asked again, gleefully swinging himself on the branch.

“Umm, maybe some other time. Why are you alone out here?”

“Hmm. A-lone?” he looked around and made eye contact with her.

Another thing about her kid she’d come to realize, he always knew where she was; even if she was hiding her energy. This kid always seemed to know where his momma was.

“My family is here.”

No matter how hard he tried, Trunks could not sense another being nearby. Was this kid telling the truth? And was it okay to just leave him there?

Yawning, Sora asked him if he wanted to play now. Regretfully, Trunks said that he had to get going. Once his energy was very far away, Sora hopped up the branches until reaching his mother. She held her arms out to him so he could take his nap. He fell asleep almost instantly. The sound of splashing water followed by twin laughter made her glance over. One of the juniors had been pushed into the spring from atop the branches. The other two were laughing their little asses off while the third was probably wishing for the deaths of the laughing two above. Dani rolled her eyes, as if one kid wasn’t enough.

Shifting slightly, she too joined her son in a little nap. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed until she felt another energy approaching however it was trying to mask itself. She was no longer pregnant yet she could still sense energies as well as hide her own at a very expert level. The energy was closer now and she definitely knew who it was. But why? Two visitors in one day after five months? Something must have happened. That was the only explanation.

Her new guest landed next to the spring just as her previous guest had earlier. He looked around, not sensing anything. But he knew better.

“I know you’re here Dani,” he spoke. “Come out. We need to talk.”

So long for sitting back and doing nothing. Glancing over at a junior, she repositioned Sora on the thick branch before hopping down.

“Long time no see Piccolo,” she smiled, crossing her arms. “What can I do for you?”

“Where is he.” he said sternly.

She blinked. “Where is who?”

“Don’t play the fool. Cell. Where is Cell? I know you know where he is. You’re associating with him, aren’t you?”

Eyes narrowed, “Why would I play the fool when I seriously don’t know what you’re talking about? I don’t know where Cell is just as much as you. Not that I care. I’m glad he’s gone. Why would you assume I know? And why would you assume that I’m associating with him? The mere thought of that makes me unable to form a proper coherent sentence to answer that accusation. Like… seriously, what are you thinking?”

“In the time leading up to your departure, there was a short period in which your ki was different. It felt as if it was intermixed with his. You were _changing._ Even now you’re _different_ yet the same. Something happened between you-”

“Alright first of all, stop right there before I just... Eww. No. Just… no. Second, you’re very attentive to have noticed something like that. Third, you would probably undergo _some_ changes if that bastard stabbed you and injected you with who knows what all because he wanted to see what would happen.”

Piccolo’s eyes were wide. Did she just say...

“Ha, you look surprised. Think I wasn’t? I was terrified. How about you? Do you feel any fear as well? Probably, your face says it all. But you really want to hear something worth fearing? Turns out I was pregnant! Whoa! I know! There’s currently something on this planet with Cell’s DNA. But I assure you there is nothing to worry about.”

“You’re telling me not to worry?!! There’s another monster on this planet and you’re telling me not to worry!”

“Ya. Now keep your voice down. If you want to yell go somewhere else. There’s nothing to worry about because I’m still here safe and sound. I could have died during that for all we know. Plus he came out of my body so I think I’d know whether my child was a blood thirsty murdering machine or not.”

“Your… _child_?!”

“Yeah. And I dare you to touch him,” her voice threatening. “And again, keep your voice down before-”

She sighed, hearing leaves rustling above before feeling a weight on her shoulders and head. “Mommy who are you talking to?” Sora yawned, tiredly rubbing his eyes before resting his head atop hers.

Great. Piccolo’s booming voice woke him up.

“This is Mister Piccolo, an old acquaintance.”

“Hello Misser Picclo,” Sora mumbled tiredly, head still resting atop hers.

“I dare you to touch him,” she smirked at his shocked expression.

Piccolo couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It was a _child_! It was the same one Trunks had described to him. This child had Cell’s DNA? But.. he resembled a Saiyan… he resembled Dani…

“Something tells me Cell wasn’t so sure himself on what the outcome of his stupid experiment would be,” she began, “Let alone this. Now that you know my little secret, what do you plan to do now?”

He furrowed his brow. When she had told him that there was potentially another Cell, his first thought was to destroy it. But upon looking at this child… yes, _child_… he could barely sense anything out of him. But still, this child did have Cell’s DNA. They still had a lot to be cautious about. For all they knew the boy could snap at any moment and turn on his mother. Dani was confident that that would never happen… but just how willing was he to trust her judgment? Especially when their lives probably depended on it.

“That boy is still related to Cell.”

“I understand your concern Piccolo. But again, nothing to worry about. If it makes you feel any better, feel free to drop by every now and then and check up on him. Looking at him, would you or anyone ever guess that he’s related to Cell. Especially after those juniors that bastard created.”

“Mommy who’s _Cell_?” Sora murmured.

“Hm? Cell? See Piccolo, Sora doesn’t even know who he is.”

“Is he the man in the sky?”

“What?”

“What?!” Piccolo stepped forward.

“Man in the sky?” she questioned.

“Mhm. He’s really far away though. And he moves around a lot.”

“The boy can sense Cell?!”

“Sora sweetheart, can you tell us if he’s close or far?”

“He’s _really_ far away.”

“He’s probably throwing the longest tantrum because he was outsmarted by Gohan,” Dani scoffed. “Probably blowing up planets and destroying galaxies.”

“Want me to tell you when he’s close? Because I can.”

“How?” Piccolo crossed his arms.

“When he moves around I can feel two of him for a tiny second.”

It must have been the Instant Transmission technique he copied from Goku. But just how was it possible that this boy was able to detect something so far away? Something told him that there was a lot more to this kid than meets the eye.

After another small exchange of words, Piccolo finally took his leave. Everyone continued on with their daily living and before they knew it, month five turned into month six. Sora was flying steady now but still preferred catching a ride on her. He named the juniors which was an interesting thing in of itself.

It all led up to the point in her life where she was now, admiring her sleeping child after he had worn himself out playing with the juniors. The juniors were no different. They were probably asleep under a rock or something. Or maybe in the house? She wasn’t sure. It didn’t matter though. They never really _leave_. Feeling tired herself, she got ready for bed and scooted in close.

The next morning she awoke to the feeling of something chewing on her cheek. Slowly opening her eyes, Sora was lying on her asleep and probably dreaming of food. She reached over on the nightstand and got his pacifier. After replacing her cheek for the pacifier, she slowly got him off of her face and went back to sleep. That didn’t last long for Sora was soon up and full of energy. They spent the majority of the day in one of the larger springs in the area; fishing, exploring the caves, and lying down in the grass enjoying nature. It was just another regular afternoon until Sora started looking up at the sky with an intent look.

“Mommy.”

“Hm?”

“I think the man is getting closer.”

“Man? What man…. Wait what?” she sat up. “Are you sure?”

He nodded.

“Where is he?!”

“Here.”

“What!”

“On the planet.”

“I need to tell Pic-”

It was then that she felt something all too familiar… something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Sora, if you ever feel him coming here, I want you to quickly hide.”

“But mommy-”

“Sora,” she said a bit more sternly.

“But... but... okay mommy.”

His power was unbelievable. He was letting everyone know of his presence. But just as the enormous power that filled the air appeared, it disappeared. Weird. It completely vanished. She was about to ask Sora where Cell had gone off to when she realized Sora wasn’t next to her anymore.

Oh _crap_. If Sora ran off, that could only mean-

“Hello _my dear_ Dani.”


	12. Chapter 12

It had been long… _too_ long. She wasn’t afraid of him. But _this_… this _power_ she had nearly forgotten about… _that_ was terrifying…

Yet… heh… all that power and he still lost…

“Hi,” she replied slowly as she rose to her feet. “Welcome back?”

He chuckled, “Is my perfect being so magnificent that you cannot go a few hours without?”

Hooooo. Ha, what? “Perfect my ass,” she muttered as he went on and on about his perfection. Ugh, it was as if he never left. Within a blink of an eye he was right in front of her.

He gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him. “You still question my being despite the display you saw not too long ago?” he spoke in a smooth yet dangerous tone.

* * *

“Why is he getting close to mommy?” Sora whispered. “Why is he touching mommy!” he inched closer while the juniors desperately hoped he didn’t abruptly take off on them. Cell wasn’t exactly the one they feared should Sora be found out.

* * *

She slapped his hand away and put some distance between them. “What display?” she smirked, crossing her arms over her chest. “The one before or after you lost your cool?”

Aaaaand _there_ was the instant change in his expression.

“Hey don’t look at me like that. I was cheering for _you_. I _never_ doubted your power against theirs because I’ve seen your power and just how _little_ you’d been using _THE ENTIRE TIME_! If anything, I was expecting you to finish everything quickly so it could all be over with and I could get the hell out of there. But guess what I wasn’t expecting? You to lose! And it all started the second your stupid ego took over! You lost! You were outsmarted by a kid who’s barely about to hit puberty and your response to that was to blow yourself up along with everyone else just so you could get the last laugh in hell!”

With each word his face contorted into a rage she knew all too well. But like hell was she about to back down now.

“You could have had everything won from the VERY BEGINNING! But noooo, we need to show off our stupid arrogance to the whole damn world because we’re _righteously perfect _like that! And for what?! Just to resort to suicide because shit got out of your cont-”

He had her up by her neck with a look that screamed murder. “I believe you’ve long served your purpose to me, _my dear _Dani.”

* * *

“Mommy,” Sora struggled against the juniors as they held the boy down and kept repeating Dani’s words to him. For a ‘three year old’, he was ridiculously strong. “But mommy!” he struggled to crawl forward.

* * *

She laughed. “What are you going to do? Kill me? Please, joke’s on you. I can’t die that easily. Not that I want to anyways.”

As he held her out, he couldn’t help but notice something different about the Saiyan he was about to strangle to death. His brow furrowed, “Tell me. How is it that your energy changed in the time I was gone?”

“What? You were gone for quite a while. Or are you not aware?” Seeing his expression… “Oh….ohhhhhh hohoho, this is great. You appear to be under the impression that only a few hours have passed since you blew up and came back. But guess what? Nope. Ha, was your tantrum so big that you lost track of time?”

He began to slowly constrict her airway.

“Cell,” she grinned, “_Tell me,_ how long do you think you were gone?”

Just then they were both diverted to the blue flash that landed a ways from them.

“Let her go!”

Cell stared in a mix of surprise and shock… and possibly anger at the junior that had taken a fighting stance against him. How was this even possible? Unless…

“Tell me right now!” he demanded whilst pulling her dangerously close to him.

“Six months.”

“What?!” his eyes widened in surprise as he dropped her.

“Fuck,” she murmured, landing on her tail. It was quite a drop. She’d nearly forgotten just how tall he was. However she was reminded again as he pulled her up by her clothes.

“What has become of my experiment?”

“Do I look pregnant to you!?” she spat.

“Answer me before I tear a hole in you and find out!”

Normally if someone had said that to her under different context, she probably wouldn’t mind. It has almost been two years for her body after all. “Dear lord,” she groaned, annoyed. She glanced over at the junior her son had named Benji then simply hung her head to the side and pointed at Benji.

“Do not take me for a fool!”

“Well I’m not pregnant and there’s something that looks just like you. I’m positive you don’t even know what you expected when you used my uterus as a damn petri dish for your stupid DNA.”

This junior, this was not it. This junior, was _his_ creation. But how was that even possible? All of his precious children were destroyed by that brat! And furthermore, what was it doing trying to defend _her_?

“Now let go of me!” she gripped his arm. She was tired of dangling in the air and she was tired of all the pulling! She hated the fact that she could never support herself in the air whenever the distance between them was so short.

“Answer my question.” He brought her close again. Damn it! This was getting really annoying!

“Well,” she hooked her arm over his to better support herself… and her clothes… for the sake of everyone there, “Suppose I birthed your demon spawn, assuming it has _both_ of our DNA, wouldn’t you be able to sense it? You always seem to be able to find me no matter where I hide, right?” she enlightened him with a cheeky grin. She was very positive that Cell could not sense Sora. The juniors were miniature replicas of Cell yet even they could not sense Sora when he was right in front of them. She didn’t really understand how that was even possible. But she wasn’t complaining. All that mattered was that she could sense her son and he could sense her.

However it was for that very reason that Cell believed otherwise. There was nothing else on the planet that had the same energy signatures as he and his struggling companion-

She landed with a slight stagger when he suddenly disappeared. She glanced over at Benji and the two shared a shrug... that is until Cell returned holding the other two juniors.

“There are _more_?” she didn’t even try. She looked over at one of them and when it discretely shook its head, she felt some relief that Cell had not found Sora.

Cell however looked none too pleased knowing the implications of why not one but _three_ of his juniors were present here before him.

He tossed the juniors at her feet, “Explain this.”

“Explain? Explain what? They came to me is all I can say. Heh, why? Dunno. Confused me then, don’t really care about it now. Why don’t _you_ explain this to me. They are _your_ children after all,” she crossed her arms as naturally as she could over the fact that she just felt something above them she really did not want to feel.

_Sora!_ she mentally screamed, getting ready to rip her hair out.

Cell reached out and finely grasped a single leaf that had descended from the tree above. With the leaf between his thumb and index finger, he slowly looked up. Dani stared intently at him as he searched the tree. With his other hand he fired a small blast above them causing Dani and the juniors to stifle a gasp – someone more successfully than the others. Crushing the leaf, he stared intently at the Saiyan and the three juniors who were covering each other’s mouths.

She slowly glanced down at them with a slight shake of her head. “Dudes.”

“Woman!” he stepped forward.

_Shit!_

She put her hands up and stepped back with a slight laugh. “Alright alright!” she sighed. Dragging her hands down her face, she groaned before glancing up. “So-” however it didn’t take any time at all for her child to land on her face.

“I’m hungry,” he murmured against her hair.

“You already ate not too long ago,” she replied against his small body.

“That was _then_ though,” he groaned. “I’m hungry _now._”

“Alright wait up then,” she reached back and tried to pry his little arms from around her head.

Cell’s eyes were wide as he stared at this… _boy_. Was . . . _this_ the result? This could not be the result! However the small Saiyan tail swaying in front of him told him otherwise. He could sense absolutely nothing from it!

“Ta-daa~” she grinned as Sora repositioned himself atop her shoulders.

He had a better view of the boy now that he was facing him.

“Six months you say?” 

The boy was staring at him. He could definitely see the resemblance between the boy and the Saiyan. He could also see some of his own features as well. This boy was definitely it.

“Boy. Come here.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Okay, one, he probably doesn’t even know who you are. And two, you can’t possibly expect a child to freely listen to you… or anyone for that matter. You should know these things. You’re a parent of who knows how many kids… oh, but then again if you did know, the majority of your kids wouldn’t be dead. But then _again_ that does explain why three are still alive so kudos to you.”

His brow twitched. “Why would the boy not know who his creator is?”

She laughed at this. “Creator? Please. He came out of _me._ _I_ was the one who was pregnant for three excruciating months. _I’m _the one he depended on for life in those three months and even now. _You_ are nothing more than a sperm donor that helped me conceive a child I never thought I would ever want.”

“Sperm donor.” The juniors chortled amongst themselves.

Cell was beginning to lose his patience once again. “A child that would not have been possible without _my_ DNA, _my_ genetic material!”

“Thank you for that-”

“Wait, are you my dad? Is he my dad?” Sora questioned. “You look weird. Why do you look weird? You can’t be my dad.” Sora pointed down at the juniors, “You look like him. He’s _your_ dad.”

Dani had her hand over her face. This was definitely her child.

“Listen, _boy_, you-”

“I’m hungry!” Sora groaned, resting his head atop his mother’s.

Dani was about to groan as well, feeling familiar energies approaching. If another large scale battle was about to break out then like hell was she going to stay.

Crossing her arms, she glanced over at the android. “So what’s going to happen? Knowing you, you have something planned.”

“I do,” he smirked. “But unfortunately the time has not come for what I have planned. The boy _will_ come with me, but not today. I’ll return shortly so that we may, _sort out_ the details my dear.”

_We?_ What the hell was this _we_ business? And like hell would she ever let him take Sora.

“Take all the time in the world, please, I insist,” she smiled.

He reached out towards the Saiyan when suddenly the boy slapped his hand away.

“No!” he glared up at the android, hugging the Saiyan’s head. “My mommy.”

So the boy was protective of his mother… interesting… very interesting indeed.

Putting two fingers to his forehead, he looked directly at Sora with the smuggest look Dani had ever seen from him. “Know this boy, the time I’ve spent with your precious mother _far exceeds_ the time you’ve even existed.”

Her jaw dropped. He was gone. But something else was gone. Sora wasn’t on her shoulders anymore and what terrified her the most was that she couldn’t sense him.

“SORA!” the four yelled.

* * *

“BOY!” Cell yelled, trying to reach back and pry the child from behind his neck. How was it even possible that the boy was even here?! It was impossible for the child to be fast enough as to even touch him before he departed. And furthermore, he was in space and the child had yet to die!

It was impossible! It was impossible for this child to be so fast and it was impossible for this child to be so strong as to have a death grip around his neck. It was impossible by all means!

_But it wasn’t impossible. _This child harbored _his_ DNA. This child was _his_. And this child was _pissed_.

When he released some energy from his body, the boy appeared completely unfazed as if it merely passed through him.

“What’s the matter boy? Angered by my words?” he laughed boisterously.

The grip got stronger. This boy was trying to separate his head from the rest of his body.

Reaching back once again, he managed to grab the boy’s shirt only to be bitten. Angered, he reached around the other side and managed to forcefully pull the boy away. Holding the thrashing and angry boy at arm’s length, he looked over at the distinctive canine teeth marks the boy had left imprinted on his other hand.

“Understand who I am boy. I am the reason why you even exist and I am the reason why your precious mother is still alive. You will respect me and do as I sa- AH! YOU LITTLE-!” he released his hold.

THE DAMN BOY HAD BITTEN HIM AGAIN! AND THIS TIME HE BIT HARD ENOUGH TO DRAW BLOOD!

THE WRETCHED LITTLE BRAT!

WHERE WAS HE!?

THE BRAT WAS GONE!

* * *

“Where is he?” A few minutes had passed and Dani was frantically trying to locate her child.

Almost as if with a blink, Sora appeared right in front of her and landed in her arms.

“Sora!” she sighed in relief, but upon noticing the purple blood dripping down his chin, “Sora! Is that.. is that Cell’s..”

“I bit him!” the boy smiled. “Twice! And I learned how to go _pop_!”

Dani simply looked at him, not quite following. “_Pop_?”

He nodded, pointing to his ears before disappearing and reappearing with some berries from a spring she knew to be quite a ways from them. “Pop!”

“Pop,” she slowly nodded, wiping his face clean and gently tugging on his ears. So Sora had picked up the Instant Transmission technique. But how? Was it inherent? Or did he learn it from seeing Cell perform it? Then again, Sora seemed to understand the concepts of the technique when sensing Cell. So perhaps in tagging along, Sora grasped the how-to of it.

“I’m hungry.”

Glancing down, she couldn’t help but laugh and hug her child close.

“I know, I know. How about you take us somewhere away from here?” she suggested. Sensing those distinct energies, she knew her day was far from over. But with Sora’s newly acquired technique, perhaps she could postpone the inevitable. Sora couldn’t be sensed and she could hide her energy pretty well, so perhaps she could avoid it altogether… Hmmm..

The rest of her day seemed pretty good.


	13. Chapter 13

Dani hummed contently to herself as she sat under the giving shade of the tree. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, resting it against the trunk as the sound of children playing filled her ears...

It was a rather beautiful day. Beautiful enough to lure out even those living in the underground. It had been a while since she had actually been in a city around people, so she decided it wouldn’t be a bad thing to spend the day strolling around with her child. And that’s exactly what they did. It was something simple, but it was something that didn’t happen often either.

What also didn’t happen often, or at all, was Sora playing with other children. As they were strolling, they came across a park. Sora immediately took notice of the children playing and wanted to join in. Dani actually debated it. She had seen many times the way he and the juniors would roughhouse. And then the thing with Cell. Sora bit Cell! Sora made Cell bleed! She wasn’t there so she didn’t know the details or the situation but HOLY SHIT SORA MADE CELL BLEED!

Questioning whether or not he could handle playing with human children meant questioning his control and it killed her inside. She trusted her son, but he was still a child himself. What if he got carried away? What if he treated the kids as if they were the juniors? What if he were to-

No.

She trusted and believed in her precious cinnamon roll. Sora was not and would never be like Cell.

And so here she sat, watching contently as he played, laughed, and smiled with the other children. It was almost as if he wasn’t potentially the most dangerous being on the planet. Watching him patiently wait his turn to go down the slide, it would undoubtedly be hard to believe that his other half of DNA came from the one who sent the world into a panic, and why the majority of the kids present probably resided in the underground.

It made her smile seeing him happy. And it also melted her heart whenever he would wave at her every-now-and-then with a big grin. It was almost as if he was assuring her that he was okay, _everything_ was okay, and that she didn’t have to worry.

She could only hope that things would be that easy, especially considering the energies she felt approaching. Huh, so they finally took notice. She had been under their noses throughout the day without even trying to mask her presence. A few days had passed since Cell’s return and she knew Piccolo had some questions for her. It’s not that she was hiding those past few days, she simply didn’t want to deal with the bombardment she and Sora would surely face.

Well she postponed it long enough and here they were.

“Trunks. Krillin.” She didn’t even bother glancing over when she felt them walk over to her.

“Dani, you’re alright,” Trunks sounded relieved as he and Krillin joined her under the tree’s shade.

“Off course I am,” she scoffed. “What? Just because Cell’s back you think I’m in some kind of danger? Please.” Catching their concerned expressions, “He’s not here by the way. If that’s any temporary assurance to whatever’s concerning you.”

“Well, it’s just, because you have, um,” Krillin stammered.

Sora.

He was referring to Sora. It was amusing actually.

Krillin appeared to be extremely nervous. Was he afraid of her? Was he afraid of Sora? Or was he afraid of the uncertainty of things? She wasn’t exactly sure who knew her little secret but surely the news had broken to some. Trunks and Piccolo were the only ones who had actually seen Sora, everyone else could only go by their word regarding her child.

Speaking of child, Sora noticed two people with his mother. One was unfamiliar to him, but the other looked like…! Excited, he skipped over to them and hopped onto Dani’s shoulders.

“Trunks!” he greeted gleefully, leaning over and using Dani’s hair to hold himself. “Hi!”

Krillin was a nervous wreck and it did not go unnoticed by Dani. That’s why it was very much amusing to her when Sora shifted himself upright – by tugging on her hair of course – and looked over to the other man. He stared intently at him, almost examining him, before a big happy grin formed on his face.

“Hi!” he waved. “My name is Sora.”

“Oh, um hi,” Krillin rubbed the back of his head. “I’m Krillin.”

“Hi Krillin!” Sora hopped onto his shoulders, “I like your head.”

Dani face-palmed so hard when Sora rubbed his cheek against Krillin’s bald head. Of all the things that could possibly fascinate her child… a bald head.

“I want my head like this,” he gently tugged on his thick Saiyan mane.

Another face-palm. “Sora, no. Come here.”

“It’s alright,” Krillin chuckled as his nerves slowly began to dissipate. This kid… was it really this kid? He was… just a _kid_! There was no denying the resemblance to his mother, but those marking on his cheeks… those were what settled in the fear regarding the uncertainty about him.

“Listen, Dani,” Trunks got her attention back, “We want you to come with us.”

Brows raised, “Oh? And may I inquire as to why?”

“Well, if possible, we want to know more about Sora.”

Bull.

“As in you want us to tell you were Cell is and everything we know,” she smirked at his nervous form. She got him. “We’ll go with you,” she began as Sora climbed back onto her shoulders, “but there’s not much we can tell you. I know just as much as you.”

“That’s alright,” Trunks assured, looking very much relieved. Perhaps if they knew more about Sora, they could find some way in potentially defeating Cell. They had nothing right now. Cell was even stronger than before and there was no telling what could happen.

* * *

Inside Capsule Corp…

“Ooo what’s that? And that? And that? That too! What is that?” Sora pointed at things they passed by as Trunks led them to where the others were gathered. “OOO!” he squealed, “What is that?” he leaned over from atop his mother’s shoulders and pointed at the baby in Bulma’s arms.

“He’s a baby,” Bulma smiled as she approached the Saiyan and her child.

Sora looked at the baby with curious eyes before leaning down to sniff him slightly.

“Sora, no,” Dani gently pushed his face away.

“He smells exactly like Trunks,” he talked against her hand.

Trunks looked surprised. Did Sora just identify him by scent?

“Is that you Trunks?” Sora asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Baby Trunks,” Sora giggled.

“Where’s Piccolo?” Dani questioned, noticing he wasn’t here. Vegeta wasn’t present either but she wasn’t questioning that. Gohan was absent as well but he was a different story.

“Right here,” Piccolo answered, having entered the room. Noticing Sora waving at him, he nodded in acknowledgement. “We’ve been looking for you. I’m assuming you know why.”

She nodded. “Well here I am.”

“What happened?”

“I’m positive you all felt his arrogant display of power, announcing this return to the world.”

They all nodded. Never before had they felt something so powerful, so dark, and so evil.

“Well, he stopped by to say _hi_, threatened me, dropped some weird hints regarding his future plans, and then left.”

“What did he say?”

She sighed, “Nothing really. All I know is that he’s calm. He’s probably out for revenge after being humiliated. He kinda implied he’s up to something. What? I don’t know. All he ever wanted to do was test his strength and power against the best, to beat everyone and display his superiority. Now that we’ve reached this point of… well _this_, if he wanted to do anything against the planet, I feel as though he would have done it already. He hates weaklings and thinks of Earthlings as piss ants at his feet.” Then again everything was a damn game to him. “I wish I could tell you more. I really do. But the reality is that I barely know much myself.”

“Cell met Sora for the first time, didn’t he?” Trunks questioned, to which Dani nodded.

“And I bit him!” Sora beamed.

“Bit? Sora bit Cell? How? Why? Was there a physical altercation? Did he hurt you? Did he hurt Sora? Are you guys okay?”

Dani internally groaned. “Trunks, I’m alright. _We’re alright._ It wasn’t a physical altercation, more like Cell believing he knows how to deal with children.”

“What’s all this commotion?”

Everyone’s attention turned to the Saiyan entering the room.

Vegeta had his arms crossed as he approached the group.

“You,” his eyes settled on the woman, the other Saiyan. “You’re the woman Cell keeps coming after.” Looking at the child, he noticed that the child bore a resemblance to her. Was it her child? Another Saiyan? “Is this your secret? Is this why he keeps coming after you? Because you’ve had this child the entire time?” He couldn’t sense anything out of the boy. Such a weak Saiyan. “Pathetic,” he scowled before walking away and exiting the room before any more of his time was wasted.

Once it was positive Vegeta was gone, Dani turned to Piccolo. “Does he not know…”

He shook his head no.

“It’s probably better this way. My dad’s not the most rational person. If he knew Sora was affiliated with Cell.. well you know…” Trunks trailed off. He knew his father would make a rash decision and not approach the situation with a level head. It would not end well for either party.

“What’s going to happen now?” Bulma wondered aloud.

“Dani you can’t be alone out there-”

“No,” she cut him off. “I’m sorry but no. I’m perfectly fine on my own and have been these past few months. If I were to stay and re-join you guys, you’d be in more danger than me. And it’d only be a matter of time before Vegeta found out. He’s rash, not dumb. Plus I don’t think Misters Uncertainty over there,” she motioned over at the group of Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, Roshi, and Oolong, “would feel comfortable with that. I mean look at them. They’re all the way over there! Your fear and uncertainty regarding us is written all over your faces. Yes, my child is related to Cell. No, he’s not anything like that bastard. Check him out yourself, he’s just a little boy.”

“Bulma,” Tien looked over at Bulma.

“I guess we can do some tests, like a physical,” she suggested and looked over at Dani for her approval. When she nodded, Bulma motioned for her to follow her deeper inside the building. Piccolo, Trunks, and Krillin followed, while the uncertain group stayed behind.

Settling into one of her labs, Bulma gathered some supplies while Dani placed Sora on the table Bulma had thrown one of baby Trunks’ blankets over.

“Alright, time to play doctor,” Bulma rolled over to them. She pulled out a stethoscope and pressed the end onto his bare skin.

“Ah, cold,” Sora wiggled.

Bulma could hear perfect heartbeats. Telling him to take deep breaths, she could perfectly hear the air flowing in and out of his lungs. She handed him some snacks and listened as the food passed down his esophagus.

By listening alone, she could hear everything well inside. He was organic all right, with working organs and all. From the information she knew from Trunks, Cell was a bio-android but he lacked organs. He was just a mass of cells organized into the shape and being they all knew. Sora definitely got his physical form from his mother.

Venturing deeper, Bulma asked for permission to do a blood sample by the ol’ finger prick. Dani nodded. She didn’t mind at all. If it shut everyone up, then do what they want now. Sora didn’t seem to mind either. In fact, he appeared oblivious as to what was happening as he happily munched on the snacks provided.

“You might feel a little poke,” Bulma warned as she held his little hand. 1-2-3!

Sora, mouth full of cookies, glanced over when Bulma released his hand. “Poke?” He then noticed a tiny red speck on his finger. “Ah! Momma!” he held his finger up to her. “What is that?”

“It’s nothing,” she smiled at him as Bulma handed her a band-aid to apply to his finger. “There. Now don’t talk with your mouth full or you’ll choke,” she handed him his juice box as Bulma pricked her finger as well.

They would get a lot of information with these blood samples. She rolled over to a machine and inserted the samples to process before rolling back. Taking Trunks out of his crib, she placed him atop the table and observed as he interacted with Sora while she chatted with Dani.

Bulma had always had her suspicions that Dani was going through something all those months back, but she would never have imagined it would be this. Asking some questions, she was extremely surprised that gestation was only three months. That was a third of the normal time! That sounded absolutely painful! Why did she not seek them out?

“I was terrified,” she spoke honestly, recalling the days after giving birth. She was terrified and uncertain on how to go about things. She now had this little being that was completely dependent on her for everything! She didn’t know what to do. How was one supposed to jump into something like this with no knowledge, no training, nothing whatsoever!

Instincts. She couldn’t explain it but it was almost as if it were instincts that kicked in and guided her on what to do. Pretty soon she was able to tend to his needs. Her only hassle was figuring out his growth rate but once she got that, no problems at all.

But the days after birth weren’t just spent filled with fear and uncertainty, they were also filled with self-loathing and hate. She absolutely hated herself. She was so terrified during gestation that she was within a second, within an inch to do away with Cell’s experiment. Even at the cost of her own life, she was ready to end it all. But then she felt it – so warm, so _alive_. It was almost as if it was calling out to her. And so thinking back, she absolutely hated herself. Watching the infant sleep, she didn’t deserve Sora. To think that a second was all it took to change it all.

“I was just so scared,” she sighed as she ran her fingers through Sora’s hair. “I was afraid of the consequences of things that were out of my control.”

“Are you scared now?” Bulma questioned.

“No,” Dani smiled, “Not at all.”

They chatted for a while longer before Dani decided it was time for them to take their leave. Bulma offered them a place to stay but Dani kindly refused. She would only endanger them if she were to remain. Things were better off as they were. And so with that, they took their leave.

Back at their home area, the moon’s light reflected off of the water as it cascaded over the rocks. Dani and Sora were up in a tree watching the waterfall seemingly glow under the moon.

“Why did we leave?” Sora questioned from where he was seated on her lap.

“They’re good people. Bad things would happen if we stayed there.”

“You’re good people too,” he looked at her.

She wasn’t good people. But how could she explain that to him as she stared into his little eyes. She wrapped her arms around him as he in turn wrapped his around her neck. “I love you Sora,” she kissed the top of his head as she protectively held him close to her.

The waterfall’s gentle rumble sounded as he fell asleep in her arms. Shortly after she began to doze off as well, but her slumber was very brief for something caught her attention. Sora must have felt it too for he stirred from his sleep, ultimately sitting up.

Someone was close. She couldn’t sense who, but whoever it was didn’t want to be detected.

Sora hopped up the branches of the tree to find the intruder.

“Sora!” she whispered, but he was already gone.

Sora hopped from branch to branch, tree to tree. He couldn’t really sense it, but he could definitely smell it. Following the scent-

“Got you!”

“Momma!” Sora cried out.

“Vegeta!” Dani shouted as he held Sora out by his leg. “Let him go! Now!”

So it was him! Did he follow her all the way over here? If he was suppressing his energy, then it surely must have took him awhile. However, since she could clearly feel everyone else’s energies, they’d be arriving any second now.

“Vegeta!” Piccolo shouted as they began to touch down and surround Vegeta.

“Father! Let him go!” Trunks pleaded.

“You fools! This boy is some Cell by-product! He can’t be allowed to live!”

“Vegeta!” Dani yelled but he opened his hand towards Sora in warning.

“Shut up! All of you! This thing is a menace to all of our lives! Kakarot is gone and his boy is so riddled with guilt that he won’t even finish what he started!”

“Father, enough!” Trunks snapped, not taking too kindly to the way he was speaking of Gohan. Yes, Gohan felt guilty and responsible for what happened to Goku but it wasn’t just that though. Chi Chi was pregnant, and he didn’t want to leave his mother alone in this time that the whole world was living in fear. “You don’t understand!”

“No I _do_ understand! I understand that this boy is another threat to us all and must die!”

_Sora! Why aren’t you doing anything!_ she couldn’t help but think. He quickly snapped at Cell for a comment yet Vegeta was threatening his life! While Trunks and Vegeta were going back and forth, she noticed Sora’s lips quivering. Was he scared? He wasn’t crying. He wasn’t yelling. Was he about to do something?

“Piccolo,” she looked over at him then over to Sora.

“Vegeta! Release the boy before you get us all killed!” Piccolo warned, picking up Dani’s warning.

“I’m going to _save_ us all you-

“DADDYYYYYY!” Sora shouted, leaving everyone silent.

What…?

“Is that it boy? Is that all you-” Vegeta shut up in shock when something flashed and appeared right in front of Dani. Everyone was frozen in shock. It was… it was… _him_.

“Cell,” she looked at his back as he faced Vegeta.

Arms crossed and a frown on his face, he stared down the Saiyan prince before his eyes settled on the upside-down boy.

“If this is you acknowledging who I am, very well,” he slowly approached the frozen prince and snatched Sora away from his grip. He turned and handed the still upside-down boy over to Dani.

“Thank you,” she was in surprise as Sora settled into her arms.

“Leave,” he ordered.

She slowly nodded as Sora transported them away.

Cell then turned his attention back to the group as a smirk played at his lips.

Everyone jumped back, having snapped out of their initial shock.

“Quite the welcoming party, Vegeta” Cell chuckled.

“Cell! That boy is yours!” Vegeta clenched his fist, having missed his chance.

“Indeed. Not what I had envisioned, but my DNA nonetheless. I don’t appreciate you handling my boy in such a way, Vegeta. If anyone is going to teach that brat some manners it’s going to be _me_. Don’t tell me you’re still upset over what I did to Trunks?” he laughed, only riling up the angry prince.

“Vegeta,” Piccolo warned. It didn’t appear as if Cell was interested in a battle right now, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t eliminate them all if provoked. Dani was right, he was much calmer and that made him all the more terrifying.

“Or is it because I killed Goku and now you’ll never be able to prove your worth?”

“_Father_,” Trunks pressed. Vegeta was about to lose it.

“Now you’ll forever be some incompetent fool that disgraced his people by always being second best.”

That did it.

“CELL!” Vegeta charged in for a direct attack only to be caught and held up by the neck.

“VEGETA! / FATHER!” They all shouted as Cell impaled Vegeta through the abdomen.

Vegeta coughed out blood as Cell twisted his arm out.

“This is as close as you’ll get to experiencing what your son experienced,” Cell spoke with a very dark tone, “only you’re not going to die. No no, Vegeta. You’re going to live, and you are going to recover. _Then_ you will die.” Vegeta dropped to the ground as Cell released his hold on him. “Till then,” Cell smirked before disappearing.

* * *

“But why didn’t you do anything?” Dani questioned, rinsing Sora’s face with some spring water.

“I didn’t want to hurt him,” he replied, glancing up at the moon. There was no waterfall to shine on but the tranquility and clarity of the spring was just as good.

She sighed, glancing up as well before drying off his face.

“He’s coming,” he looked up at her.

She nodded in acknowledgement. She really didn’t care right now. Today was… quite a day.

Appearing before them, he faced Sora. “Boy, come.”

He was slow, but ultimately complied. Cell grabbed him by the back of the collar and held him up so that they were face to face. “Why did you call me?”

“To scare the bad man,” Sora fiddled with his tail.

Cell narrowed his eyes, examining the child, before tossing him over to Dani.

“Don’t throw him,” she glared at him.

“You caught him.”

“Yeah but-”

“Dani,” he approached and grabbed her shoulders, “we are in the precedence of something far too great,” he leaned over her.

“Yeah okay,” she replied dumbly with a small blush on her cheeks.

Taking notice, Sora tried to push him away.

“Where is your strength now?” Cell laughed, stepping back.

“Hey, what happened to Vegeta?” she asked. “Is he dead? Did you kill him? Did you kill anyone?”

He chuckled, “Oh no my dear. He’s alive but not for long. His death will come soon enough… and it won’t be by my hand.”

He appeared to almost beam at that last part. Something was going to happen, and she didn’t know what.

“You’re not leaving anymore, are you?” it was more of a statement than an actual question. Regardless, his smug look told her all she needed to know.

“Absolutely not, now you and I can catch up and make up for lost time,” he smirked.

What was that even supposed to mean??

“Now come,” he motioned her over to him.

What? Why? Where?

“Momma let’s go,” Sora hopped onto Cell’s shoulder.

“None of this,” Cell grabbed the boy by his collar and held him out to his mother.

“It’s night time. Where are we going?” Dani questioned, grabbing Sora. She was about to whine. She really was. She didn’t want to be jumping all over the place. She was tired and knew Sora was too.

“You’ll see,” he placed his hand on her shoulder and they disappeared.


	14. Chapter 14

It was just like any other afternoon. They were out and about and Sora was playing with the juniors as Dani observed from a distance, away from the chaos. The only difference was that Cell was among them now.

Brow twitching at the scene before him…

It hadn’t even been a couple of days…

“What... is _this_?”

“They’re playing,” Dani replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Standing next to him atop the canyon rock, she saw nothing out of the ordinary as Sora and the juniors roughhoused below.

Casting her a not-so-pleased look, “Why is the boy naked?”

“It’s hard to explain…” she said slowly, “Well not hard but…”

_“Sora you need to wear your pants,” Dani looked at her naked child. She had been arguing with him for over half an hour about why he needed to wear his clothes. _

_“But why!” he protested once again. “You’re not wearing any pants either.”_

_“Yeah but I’m not completely naked like you.” Given she was simply wearing her undergarments underneath the sleeveless robe, having discarded the shirt and not really wanting to wear the pa-_

_Alright, she’d give him this one. But he couldn’t be completely naked!_

“He’s not naked, he has his pull-up on. Don’t overreact. Jeez. He’s decent enough.”

“As are you,” he stated sarcastically, giving her a good look over.

She smirked. She was in the same state as before but she closed the robe with the sash around her waist. It was _a little_ loose in the front around her chest but she made damn sure that she was for the most part ‘presentably decent’.

“Well damn stop staring and there wouldn’t be a problem,” she crossed her arms. “Unless you want there to be a problem then I will gladly-”

“Enough,” he growled.

She laughed, “Ahh just for you Cell.” Casting him a quick glance, “Surely you’re simply wondering what else has changed in your absence. Well for one, my boobs got huge!” she grinned as she carefully shifted the robe to peek down at her chest.

Benji choked on his spit and Cell immediately averted his eyes.

“COVER YOURSELF!”

“I _AM_ COVERED! Can’t I peek at myself?” she was a grinning mess. “It’s _my_ body. And besides, _you’re_ the reason why they grew. I had to breastfeed. And it hurt. I mean they’ve gone down a bit since then but they’re still bigger than befo-”

“Enough!” he was facing the canyon again.

It appeared as though they were both stuck having to tolerate each other.

She was laughing her ass off. Her cheeks were going to hurt from all of the grinning but damn it all she was enjoying this way too much.

“Alright alright I’m sorry,” she wiped a stray tear from her eye, “but I’m not changing,” straightening herself out, she stood next to him once again.

Eying her one final time, he turned his attention back to the impudent boy that carried his DNA. He was eager to discover just what the boy was capable of but the uncooperative brat’s attachment to his mother made things a bit more complicated. He listened to her and only her.

There was a silver lining though, the boy did have the capacity to listen to him as evidenced with the Vegeta episode. It was just a matter of working the circumstances to his favor and exploiting the boy’s feelings for what he held dear to him.

Smirking to himself, he glanced at the Saiyan and the abomination standing next to her…

Yes, things would definitely work out in his favor.

“Tell me Dani, what training has the boy undergone?”

“That,” she pointed to the game of extreme tag Sora and the two juniors were still playing.

Given the juniors’ initial power levels, the boy was well beyond theirs. He definitely had inherent and dormant power that had yet to be fully brought out, something he was definitely looking forward to witnessing… But speaking of power…

“And what has become of your training?”

She scoffed, “Does it look like I’ve been training? I had _that_,” she pointed her finger at her happily waving child, “Gimme a break.”

“We can easily turn that around.”

“I think I’m of less importance right now,” she glanced at him. “Buuut I supposed I should feel honored that you would even think of little ol’ me.”

He smirked, “You _should_ feel honored. Not everyone has the privilege of being trained by the most powerful being in the universe. A privilege that the boy will soon realize as well.”

“_You’re_ going to try and train Sora? Heh, please, by all means,” she extended her arm out towards the canyon, motioning for him to make his move.

He let out a dark chuckle as he flew towards the scuffle. Appearing in the middle of the fray, “Boy, come.”

Sora and the juniors looked at each other and then at Cell and then back at each other before continuing their activities.

“Come here if you care about your mother.”

All activity suddenly stopped.

Cell smirked triumphantly.

Sora was staring at Cell and the juniors were staring back and forth between the two.

Back on the cliff, Dani narrowed her eyes as it appeared Cell managed to get Sora to come to him.

“Well isn’t that something,” she murmured.

Benji nodded.

It was evident Cell was working some kind of plan, but what? After the incident with Vegeta, Sora had been a bit more compliant towards Cell. However that only lasted for so long, much to Cell’s great annoyance. But now Cell had Sora’s attention for more than a couple of seconds and she could not hear what was being said to attain that attention. 

She blinked when they both looked in her direction and was caught by surprise when Sora appeared behind her and clung on like usual. He had his arms wrapped around her neck and shoulder as he dangled off her back and voiced that he was hungry.

Of course.

Rubbing his little arm around her shoulder and glancing over at Cell who was still in the canyon, she flew off.

Unbeknownst to Dani, Cell was grinning like a madman. If everything played out right, he would get what he wanted. Vegeta would be back and there was no doubt about that. Considering the resources the fighters had at their disposal, if Vegeta hadn’t been given a senzu bean then surely the guardian of the planet had healed Vegeta’s wounds. It had only been a couple of days after all. Vegeta was brash, angry, and would most certainly bring on his own demise.

* * *

_He had transported them to an island, no idea why, but at least it wasn’t a wasteland._

_Kepa? Kela? Kefa? Kefa! Kefa Island._

_She hated to admit it but the island Cell ‘dumped’ them at was not bad. It wasn’t bad at all. In fact, it was probably one of the most beautiful places she’d ever seen. Granted, it was exceptionally farther away from any civilization. The entire archipelago looked completely untouched by man…_

_…Ugh, going into town would be a trek… Ah! But then again Sora could just transport them there. Very very convenient._

_She wondered if Cell dumping them here was intentional or completely random but regardless, she liked the place. As did Sora. Right now he was asleep after much exploring and as for her… well, here she was awake talking to the menace as if he were never gone._

_“So, you didn’t kill Vegeta?” she processed his words, “That’s awfully merciful of you.”_

_“What fun would it be if the prince wasn’t around,” he smirked._

_“You really are just having fun now, aren’t you?” she glanced at him before staring out towards the ocean. “It’s going to be really annoying when he comes back. I’d give it a few days at most.”_

_“When he decides to make his way, we will be greeted to a great spectacle.”_

_“What are you planning?” He couldn’t have been gone for so long just to come back as if nothing ever changed._

_He extended his index finger out, “No plan.”_

_Bullshit._

_“Then why is **this** still a thing?”_

_“You’ve reiterated your purpose. The boy was not expected, thus you’ve managed to repeatedly amaze me my dear. You’ve proven yourself surprisingly useful once again.”_

_Her eyes narrowed dangerously._

_“Oh? Angry? I don’t see why,” he grasped her chin and gently squeezed. “As the only female Saiyan and soon to be last full-blooded Saiyan, you are much too valuable now. Especially considering you are indeed fertile and capable of reproducing viable offspring.”_

_She was glaring daggers at him._

_“Our game is far from being over…”_

“….ommma…..Mommmmma.”

Blinking, she looked over at her child sitting next to her at the restaurant booth. “Yes Sora?”

“Can I have your ham?”

She looked down at her ramen bowl then back at his stack of empty bowls, not that she didn’t have a stack herself. “You’ve eaten so many bowls of food already.”

“I want _one_ ham. Please.”

“Alright, but that’s going to be your last bowl.”

He happily nodded and thanked her before taking the slice of ham and finishing his bowl in a matter of seconds.

Finishing her own final bowl, she couldn’t help but wonder what Cell was up to. It wasn’t anything good of course, but that didn’t stop her from at least wanting to have a semblance of knowing what was going on. For the moment, all she knew was that it revolved around Vegeta. So did that mean she would have to wait for him to try to sneak up and kill them again?

How annoying.

The situation would escalate unnecessarily… well, more than it already had. Any sense of comradery or acquaintanceship she had with the fighters would most certainly be gone if it wasn’t already… but as annoying as it was, they’d deal with it when it happened.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty, lively…

Once again Sora was roughing it up with the juniors. And once again she was observing from afar, as was Cell. She was simply ‘supervising’ whereas Cell wanted to see what Sora was capable of. But there was also something else he wanted to see.

“About your training-”

“Nooo,” she stepped back, “I already told you I’m not doing that crap anymore.”

“Doing what?” Sora appeared, seated on her shoulders. “Fight? Spar?” He gasped, “Are you going to train? Oh! Are you going to trans-”

Cell was listening intently as the rest of the boy’s sentence was muffled out with a hand over his face. Back turned to him, she tugged the boy down and whispered something to him.

“Oh okay!” Sora beamed before re-joining the juniors.

Turning back around, she nearly paled at the dark twinkle in Cells eyes.

Shit.

“Come,” he ordered for her to follow as he flew into the canyon.

Shiiiit.

Touching down, “Try to land a single hit on me.”

“This again? You’re about to be awfully disappointed,” she did some quick stretches before straightening out and taking a stance.

“More so?” he smirked.

“Ohhoho yeah,” she laughed, meeting him with an array of punches and kicks.

And so that happened. She wasn’t able to land a hit, but she was close! Surprisingly though, Cell never struck back. He caught her a few times and threw her into the rock but never directly struck back. That was certainly something, but regardless, she was exhausted. She’d been at this for hours.

Cell was very much satisfied. She’d greatly improved. However there was still something more to the change in her ki and he was determined to find out what. But for today he got what he wanted. He accomplished what he intended to do and now things were set in motion.

It would only be a matter of time.

The sun was finally beginning its decent onto the horizon. Done for the day, Dani headed back to the island. Sora was still out but it wouldn’t be long.

Plopping down on the sand, she opted to wait for him. She wasn’t that tired… right? She could totally keep her eyes open for a few minutes… a couple of minutes… one minute… a few seconds.

Almost as soon as she lied down, she passed out.

Calling it a day, Sora was finally going to take off … that is, until he felt something all too familiar approaching. Looking up atop the ledge, Cell was gone. Glancing at the juniors, the four hid amongst some cliffs.

Dani sprung up, feeling Vegeta approaching. “Sora!” she took off but barely made a leap in the air before she was grabbed by her leg and forcibly pulled back. “What-” her obscenities were muffled out by Cell’s hand as he held her tight with one arm and covered her mouth with the other.

“Don’t do anything too rash my dear,” he chuckled darkly in her ear. The show was about to begin and he wasn’t about to have her ruin it.

She struggled against his hold but damn he was so strong. She didn’t give up though. Vegeta was in the canyon with Sora and she’d be damned if any harm came to her child.

* * *

“WHERE ARE YOU YOU ABOMINATION!” Vegeta shot ki blasts throughout the canyon. “I KNOW YOU’RE HERE!”

With the power up from his near fatal injury, he was going to succeed where Kakarrot and his boy failed: rid the world of everything Cell.

Firing some more blasts, still nothing, but he knew the boy was there! Taking in the night sky, he fired some shots into the air, illuminating the canyon. That’s when he saw it, a shadow.

“Found you!” he fired a powerful blast but his target was trying to make an escape. He had his sights on the boy and wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. Firing another barrage of ki blasts, he intended to lure the boy out.

“VEGETA!” Piccolo finally managed to catch up. “ENOUGH OF THIS!”

“FATHER!” Trunks shouted, arriving on the scene as well with the others.

“STAY BACK! IF ANYONE GETS IN MY WAY I’LL KILL THEM TOO!” he turned his attention back just in time to evade the three large ki blasts shot his way.

“Are those-” Trunks couldn’t believe his eyes as he observed from atop a ledge alongside Piccolo and the rest of the fighters.

Appearing above Vegeta were three Cell juniors. Having snuck up, the three managed to knock Vegeta down into the ground.

“So Cell is still spitting these things out? Excellent! More for me to destroy!” Vegeta charged at the juniors, much stronger than when he first fought them months ago.

“No!” Sora gasped as each junior was knocked into the canyon. They would surely die at the hands of Vegeta!

“COME OUT HERE BOY! ONCE I’M DONE WITH THESE THINGS, YOU’RE NEXT!”

“FATHER!” Trunks was about to confront his livid father but Piccolo held his arm out. “But he’s just a kid!”

Piccolo gritted his teeth in anger. _Damn it Vegeta!_

This was all his fault! They would not have to be dealing with anything pertaining to Cell in the first place if it were not for him. Cell would never have become perfect if it were not for Vegeta. And Gohan could have possibly won the battle with Cell if it had not been for Vegeta’s outburst after Trunks’ death.

“We need to find Sora before my father does!” Trunks hopped the ledge while Vegeta was distracted with the juniors.

“Trunks wait!” Krillin hopped down after him.

Piccolo, arms crossed over his chest, kept his hard stare at Vegeta. This was going to be another disaster.

Where was Dani? But most importantly, where was Cell-

…Vegeta had walked into a trap.

Back in the canyon, Trunks and Krillin were desperately trying to locate the undoubtedly frightened child.

“Sora! It’s me, Trunks!” he called out, trying to keep as close to the ground as possible. That was where they figured he’d be hiding.

“Trunks!” Krillin pointed to a fissure in the canyon rock.

They both approached it and sure enough, “Sora!”

Up above the canyon, Vegeta realized he had lost the boy after dealing with the ever so persistent juniors.

“BOY! FIGHT ME OR MAYBE I’LL TAKE OUT YOUR PRECIOUS, TRAITOROUS MOTHER BEFORE RIDDING THE WORLD OF YOU!”

…oh no…

_“You care about your mother, yes?”_

_Feverish nod._

_“You also appear to hold some sentiment for the juniors as well, yes?”_

_Nod._

_“Vegeta will return with the intent of killing everything you hold dear to you. What will you do then?”_

_“Um…” he fiddled with his tail, unsure of what to do or say._

_“How about I propose a deal with you, Sora.”_

_He actually said his name…_

_“I’ll give you my word that no harm will come to your mother. In return, you will eliminate Vegeta.”_

_“I-I can’t do that. I don’t want to-”_

_“You don’t want to what? Hurt him? So you’d rather have harm come to your mother?”_

_“No! I…”_

_“You are a product of my being. If you wish to protect your mother, bring out that destructive power you hold inside. There is no reasoning with people like Vegeta. Unless you want a repeat of what happened a couple of days ago, you will do what needs to be done.”_

Trunks and Krillin stopped in midair after hearing Vegeta’s threat. They then tried to move closer to Sora only to be knocked back by an incredible force.

_Everyone_ could feel it.

Piccolo clenched his fists at his side, “Vegeta, now you’ve done it.”

* * *

At the Kefa shore…

Dani was being tightly restrained as they could both feel Vegeta bombarding the canyon with ki blasts. Her _very_ vulgar obscenities were still being muffled by his hand. Having no other choice, she clenched her fists and was about to power up when they both felt the energy _resonating _from the other island.

She was about to bite his fucking hand off when next thing she knew they were at the canyon.

She shuddered at the sudden rush.

The second he released his hold on her, a deafening roar sounded that made everyone flinch.

Eyes wide, everyone looked on in shock as Sora transformed into a Great Ape.

“T-that’s impossible!” Vegeta looked up at the gibbous moon. What was this child?

Having rejoined Piccolo atop the ledge, Trunks and Krillin looked on as Sora let out another roar before going on a rampage.

“What do we do?” Krillin looked at his companions.

“Look!” Yamcha pointed over to where Dani and Cell were observing the destruction.

Trunks was about to take off to them but once again Piccolo warned him. “Dani!” he shouted.

It caught her attention. But it also caught the attention of Sora who whipped his head in their direction. Ceasing his rampage, he looked at the fighters on the ledge before looking at Dani with Cell on another ledge.

Cell smirked as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Sora pounded on his chest before turning away from them and turning his sights on the Saiyan who had been watching the rampage from above.

Dani watched in amazement as Sora surprised everyone and beat Vegeta down with his fists.

“He’s exceptionally fast considering his size,” Cell commented as he watched on much too happily.

She silently nodded, watching on as small tremors and loud blasts filled the area. But her attention was brought over to the fighters as their arguing echoed in her and Cell’s general direction.

“She’s not doing anything!” that sounded like Tien.

“What can _anyone_ do?” Sigh, thanks Krillin.

“She can prove she’s not a traitor and do something!” Jeez Tien, what the hell bro?

“In all fairness Vegeta did-”

“She’s probably been conspiring with him the entire time!” Oh? Yamcha now? Trying to act high and mighty?

“You know it’s not like that!” Trunks’ turn, of course.

“Then why did she have a baby with that monster!” Tien snapped.

Alright this was getting out of-

“Who in their right mind would deliberately involve themselves with… I mean how does it happen? Did they have-”

“HEY!” she finally snapped. “I CAN HEAR YOU!”

Blinking, they all looked in her direction.

“NO, WE’RE NOT INVOLVED! NO, I’M NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING! AND NO! WE. DID. NOT. HAVE. SEX!” Pointing back at him, “DOES IT LOOK LIKE THERE’S A PENIS IN THERE?!”

He knocked her back off the ledge within the instant.

Her laughter echoed as she slipped and fell into the canyon.

“Ow,” she laughed, sitting up and rubbing her head. Noticing the three figures approaching, “Hey! You’re alright!” she greeted the juniors. She could sense the beating they were taking and was surprised they were still alive considering Vegeta’s rage.

Speaking of that rage, it was growing upon frustration that he could not eliminate this Cell _by-product_! How was it possible that another being was stronger than he?! Never had he ceased training since that day! Yet still...!

“Sora! End this!” she heard Cell order.

Wait- that bastard! This was what he wanted, he wanted Sora to kill Vegeta! She wouldn’t be surprised if he lured him to the islan- waaaiit.

“Cell!” she flew back up to the ledge. “You bastard! You made _me_ lure Vegeta here!” she clenched her fists. It was the training session! No wonder he never struck back!

“I honestly didn’t expect you to piece it together so quickly,” he cast her a smug glance. “Now watch,” he motioned as Sora was on the prowl. Every time he got close, he would snap his jaws at Vegeta. It was almost as if…

“Oh my god Sora is trying to eat Vegeta.” She turned to him, “Why do you want Sora to kill Vegeta?” she demanded. “He’s a baby!”

He turned to her so that they were now facing each other, “Vegeta is trash not worth my time. That has now been established. The boy obviously needs training in order to control his power. I simply saw an opportunity and acted accordingly.”

“He’s a baby!!”

“Cell!” Piccolo made his way over to them.

“Piccolo-ah!” she nearly stumbled upon being forcibly pulled back by Cell. He had his hand on her shoulder, rather tightly, as they now faced Piccolo.

“This has gone on long enough, what is it that you want?”

They couldn’t exactly let Vegeta die yet due to his damn pride, he’d rather die than be saved while in a battle. It was like fighting Cell all over again! Damn it!

Cell chuckled, “Ahh Piccolo, as if I didn’t have the means of getting what I want.”

“What are you doing? What’s your plan?”

“I’m simply enjoying myself is all,” he sounded all too smug.

Bullshit. She tried to distance herself a bit but only felt him tighten his hold on her shoulder.

“PICCOLO WATCH OUT!” Krillin shouted as Sora’s giant hand pulverized the cliff they were standing on.

“DANI!” Trunks called out, seeing only Piccolo and Cell in the air.

It was dark… and she was pressed up against rocks… or being crushed by them? There was some shifting and she didn’t feel like she was buried underneath rocks anymore. Opening her eyes, startled, she realized she was sitting up on Sora’s open palm directly in front of his face.

“S-Sora?” she wondered if he could even hear her. But upon hearing a soft whine, she knew she had her child. “Hi,” she smiled. The sclera of his eyes slowly returned to their white color, but his irises remained red. “You okay?”

Small nod.

Standing up, “CELL YOU PIECE OF SHIT YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!”

Cell crossed his arms, tapping his finger. So the boy managed to regain his senses. This was interesting as well. What was also interesting was that he hadn’t transformed back yet. Which led him to wonder if Sora had ever lost control in the first place.

“Hey where’s Vegeta?” she looked around and was surprised to find him on the ledge with the fighters. “Huh, when did that happen?”

Unbeknownst to her, while Cell and Piccolo were ‘conversing’, Sora managed to grab Vegeta. However, rather than ending the Saiyan’s life, Sora had ‘handed’ him to the fighters on the ledge. Given, Vegeta probably had a few, if not a lot, crushed ribs from Sora’s hold, he was still alive. After placing Vegeta on the cliff, that’s when he noticed his mother and Cell’s proximity and well… did something about that.

“So Cell wants to have some fun, let’s give him some fun.” Hopping onto his head, “Hey buddy, you know how you like to play tag with your…. _brothers_? But you don’t want to seriously hurt them.”

Small nod.

“See _daddy_ over there? Have fun.” She hopped off his head and onto a nearby cliff.

As soon as she did so, Sora let out a roar and charged for Cell as the sclera of his eyes turned red once again.

Cell laughed, “Let’s see what you can do, boy.” This would be the perfect way to get a good measure of his power. His stamina was strong but it would eventually run out. He’d wear the boy out until then.

He released energy from his body and as expected, it appeared to just pass through Sora’s body while everyone else was nearly knocked back from it.

Sora then beat his fist down but Cell easily stopped it. He wasn’t giving up though as he tried to force his fist down. Roaring, he gave Cell quite the surprise as he fired a powerful beam at point blank from his mouth. He swung his other fist but Cell was gone. Sniffing him out, he charged once again.

“Dani, are you alright?” Trunks questioned as he landed beside her.

“You guys shouldn’t be here. You should all leave.”

“But what about-”

“Me? How many times do I need to tell you I’m perfectly fine,” her tone was a little harsh but it was the same thing over and over again. “But Trunks, you _really_ shouldn’t be here. Go back to your own time.”

“I can’t do that. I already rid my world of Cell and the androids. I can’t stay knowing this world is the way that it is.”

“You don’t understand. You _died_. Right in front of me for that matter. If you die again, there’s no coming back for you. Would it all have been worth it then? You do not understand just how powerful Cell is. It’s going to take a lot to _save_ this world.”

“You can’t just give up!”

“I was never fighting! If I’m here, it’s because I’m just living one day at a time with my child. That is all. Now go and take your father away from here before he buries himself any deeper into his own grave.” She didn’t look at him. She kept her gaze directed at Sora and Cell.

“I’ll take my father away. But, know that I’m not giving up! This world was in part affected by my actions and I can’t abandon it now! I’ll be back Dani, I promise you that.”

She bit her lip as she felt him take off along with the others. “Damn it.”

Meanwhile, Cell was having too much fun knocking the persistent boy down over and over again.

“Come now boy! Give me your anger!”

Letting out another roar, Sora pounded on his chest.

Blinking, Dani had to look closely to see that Sora was… shrinking. It was slow but it was actually happening.

Cell noticed it too. Not only because his speed was increasing, but because it was becoming increasingly difficult to sense the boy.

It suddenly got eerily quiet before Sora, now shrunk half in size, appeared behind Cell and actually beat him down.

Cell immediately got up only to avoid the boy’s snapping jaws. Taking a stance, he took the heavy punches as their force caused the ground beneath to crack. Punch after punch, Cell withstood until the ground gave way. Enough was enough, it was time to neutralize the boy.

Curling his arms together, he charged up some energy before expelling it in the form of a barrier.

It wasn’t the same one used during the battle with Goku but it was still powerful nonetheless.

Sparks of purple energy crackled as Sora, pressed against the barrier, rose along with it.

Sprawled against the outside of the barrier, Sora was probably the size of Cell now.

Cell smirked as he looked up at the boy. But upon further inspection, it appeared as if Sora was trying to chew his way through. “Still persistent? I must commend your efforts but you won’t be getting throu- WHAT!”

Sora had managed to sink his canines into the barrier and disperse it. However, that appeared to be it for him. By the time Cell caught him by the tail, he was an unconscious, naked child.

Dani was there in an instant to retrieve him now that it was all finally over. “See _now_ he’s naked.”

Cell’s brow twitched as he handed the boy over.

“Sora spared Vegeta. He’s not like you and you can’t force him to be.”

“I am a perfect being, of course the boy will never be me. But that power, ah that power! Prepare yourself my dear, this just got a lot more interesting.”


	15. Chapter 15

“And, I mean, I’m not saying I’m the best parent to be telling other parents how to take care of their kids, but like, if you see your kid launch themselves off the slide at the park and then wonder why they’re crying, maybe you should be a bit more proactive instead of just- Sora! Get down from that ledge!” Dani shouted up at her kid from where she was sitting atop a submerged boulder in the canyon spring. “You didn’t want to get your hair wet earlier! If you jump down, you’ll get all wet then start crying again!”

“I wanna get it wet now!” he shouted down at her.

Dani sighed and looked at Benji who was sitting next to her, both having dealt with Sora throwing a small tantrum earlier from his hair getting wet as he doggy paddled around the spring. She had explained to him that if he were swimming around, he had to accept the possibility that his hair would probably get a little wet especially with the other juniors roughhousing in the water. But nope, off he went. And now he wanted to jump down from the cliff where his hair would obviously get wet... Well if he said he didn’t mind anymore…

With an approving nod, she watched as he excitedly neared the ledge before jumping down into the water below with a small splash. He doggy paddled over to her and eagerly asked if she had seen him.

“Of course,” she smiled, pulling him in with her tail to sit him on her lap and play with his now wet hair. “Saw everything.”

“I’m gonna go again! Watch me!” he eagerly wiggled out of her grasp and flew up to the cliff.

She watched with a content smile, glad that he was back to his usual energetic self. A few days had passed since the fiasco with Cell and Vegeta. Sora’s transformation had left the boy depleted – sleeping for most of the days and being extremely lethargic when he was awake. Of course she had been worried the entire time. But just as much as she had been worried, she had been pissed. Pissed at Cell for causing this, pissed at Cell for using her to lure Vegeta, and pissed at Cell for leaving again once he handed over Sora that night. But who was she kidding? Cell never really left. She knew he was around somewhere, watching, observing… damn weirdo. 

But now as things were, it was whatever. Sora was fine, Vegeta wasn’t dead, and she was just over Cell’s crap like usual. She could only try to be prepared for whatever dumb shit he had to say the next time he decided to pop up and _be a parent._

* * *

Later that night after enjoying one of the many beautiful marvels of nature Earth had to offer, the Saiyan mother and son duo crashed for the night. It was a pretty large bed, easily accommodating the two. Sora slept on one side and Dani the other, but for some reason she always woke up to Sora sprawled over her. She never stirred when Sora moved but was always aware when he did. But this night something pulled her from her sleep.

Slowly waking up, she glanced down at her child sprawled over her belly. Of course. It was dark in the room except for the moonlight peeping in through the window.

That’s when she saw it. A figure. A _tall_ figure, standing over her and Sora beside the bed.

She blinked, not sure if she was still asleep or if this was real. “Cell?” she mumbled, tiredly rubbing her eyes when suddenly she felt Sora snatched from her.

The figure disappeared and she immediately gave chase.

This fucker was fast. _Really_ fast as it stayed close to the ground and basically leapt from boulder to boulder. What was worse was that aside from barely being able to see the figure in the moonlight, she couldn’t sense it at all. The second she heard Sora’s voice call out to her in the distance, her urgency skyrocketed despite still being able to sense her son.

With a sudden boost she was instantly above the figure. Snatching Sora from the back of his footie pajamas in one hand, with the other she grabbed the back of the figure’s head and slammed it down into the rock below – effectively pulverizing the stone.

“Who the _hell_ do you think you are?!” she stood over the motionless figure, still riled up and heated from whatever the hell it was that just happened. She sensed the juniors touch down and was relieved to see one of them had Sora’s stuffed giraffe. “Ah I love you,” she expressed her thanks before giving her humming son his toy and handing him to Benji. “Go back with your brothers, I’ll be back shortly.” When they all looked at her expectantly, she sighed, “Yes, you can _all_ sleep on the bed.”

“Yay! Slumber party!” Sora cheered before transporting all four of them back to their nightly residence.

Left all alone now, Dani was clenching and unclenching her fists, glancing over at the still motionless figure as she tried to calm down. The second she felt Cell appear before her, she charged with a fist. “_You_!”

Catching her attack, he lowered her fist to be face to face with his angry Saiyan. “Why’d you hold back?” he asked amusedly, “If I knew you’d be this happy to see me, I would have never left.”

She was still so pissed but it wasn’t directed at him. But it could be! Fuck!

Feet back on the ground, she stepped away from him as he asked about her state before him.

“This fucker snuck in and tried to run away with Sora,” she pointed over her shoulder to where she had left the body.

“Really now?” he gave her an incredulous look. “And that would explain your most modest attire?”

“My what?” she looked down at herself, having totally forgot she was in a bralette and some simple pajama shorts. “YES!” like she gave a damn, she literally just jumped out of bed to save her kid. Turning to see the figure, “I chased him down and got… him… here…” her eyes widened at the sight of nothing. There was _nothing_! The figure was gone! But how?? It was literally just there before Cell arrived! “He was here… he was _right_ _here_…” she stood over the pile of dust and pebble that used to be a boulder and grasped at the air as if trying to feel for something.

“I assume this is your doing?” Cell stood next to her, eying her destruction.

“_DAMN IT_!” completely ignoring him she punched the ground, creating a crater as her anger rose once again. How did he get away?? Was he still nearby? Where did he come from? How long had he been watching them sleep? How long had he been watching them, _period_? Why did he try to take Sora? And WHY. COULDN’T. SHE. SENSE. HIM??? DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT!!

Cell smirked. Her destruction indeed. “Tell me, have you always been this destructive?”

“Hm?” she stood up and looked up at him from where he stood at the edge of the crater.

“It’s almost as if your power is a complete 180 from when we _trained_ a few days ago, yet I still can’t sense much out of your pathetic form,” he began to slowly lower into the crater. “My dear, have you been keeping secrets from me?”

“Oh I would _never_ keep anything from you Cell,” her words laced with contempt as she smiled up at him. “Not like I could anyways, you’re annoyingly attentive.”

“How could I not be when we’ve come so far,” he chuckled as he reached to grab her chin but she stepped out of his grasp.

“Whatever, I’m going to bed,” she waved him off, about to fly away but he caught her leg.

“I don’t think you are.”

Next thing she knew, she felt a sudden rush before being thrown into water. “What the hell!” she sat up. “There’s sand _everywhere_,” she complained, feeling the sand up her shorts and in her bralette. “Couldn’t you have at least thrown me further into the water instead of right on the shore?” she glared up at him as the waves crashed at her back, washing away the sand before bringing more in. “Ughh it’s moving!” she shuddered, pretty sure there was some sand in her ass crack now.

“How is it that you feel different, yet completely the same?” he observed her as she had her back to him while rinsing off the sand.

“The hell would I know?” she glanced over her shoulder at him before continuing rinsing off. “I’ve barely been a Saiyan for not even two years, I spent nearly every waking second with you in the Time Chamber, the time before and after your disappearance has been with you, we both know I have little to no resolve in wanting to fight or even train, and when we do it’s just a disappointment. So why don’t _you_ tell _me_ Cell.” With her back still to him, she saw his shadow approaching and ducked out of the way just in time to evade his grasp. “Whoa now,” she smirked, stepping back from him as he continued to advance. “Watch what you decide to grab because one wrong squeeze and you will be hearing a mouthful from me.” She could care less about modesty, but it was suddenly dawning upon her just how half naked she really was.

“Oh don’t you worry, I was planning on grabbing that pretty little neck of yours and seeing what fun we’d have from there.”

Kinky.

But really, after evading a few more of Cell’s attempts to lunge at her, he just stared at her with an expression she couldn’t quite make out. It wasn’t annoyance, she knew that one. It wasn’t irritation either, she knew that one as well.

“Do you have any idea what you’re doing?” he straightened up.

“Trying not to get choked out?” she replied slowly, not sure if that’s what he was referring to. Or had she done something else and not realized it? Shit, was she doing it right now? Shit!

It was starting to irk him, whatever _it_ was. He felt no changes in her ki, no changes in power whatsoever, yet here she was evading him without the slightest rise in anything. Something was different, something was off, and he couldn’t sense it at all. This wasn’t something like Gohan’s temper-induced hidden power. This felt like something new and different entirely specific to her. With that, the question arose, was this something new or something she had all along?

“Fight me,” he challenged, not wanting to pass up the opportunity.

“This again? Can’t we postpone this to a time when I’m, oh I don’t know, _decent_?” she motioned to herself.

“Like that’s ever been a concern to you,” he scoffed.

While he did have a point, she was trying to save them both the possibility of a wardrobe malfunction resulting in an asscheek or tiddy to the face. She was at least _that_ considerate. But apparently that didn’t matter as Cell charged at her once again.

“Why only on the defensive? Where’s that anger I just witnessed when you nearly allowed our child to be abducted?” he mocked, trying to get her to physically fight him back. It worked as he suddenly found himself staggering back from a punch to the face.

She gasped. She actually gasped as she stared at him with wide eyes, not believing that just happened. She hit him. She _actually_ hit him and on that stupid handsome face of his. Aw hell she was going to get it now. He was gonna be pissed. He was gonna… be laughing? Wait, was he laughing? Why was he laughing?

“Ah, there it is,” he straightened himself out, beginning to grow excited at their little session. “Tell me, what is that feeling? It’s nothing I can relate to because the outcome would have been different in my presence,” he laughed, continuing to rile her up.

He caught her fist when she appeared above him once again and took the brunt of her kick to his chin. This was quite the development and he was enjoying every second of it. The power… _her_ power that he felt through contact was invigorating! He would meet her fists with his just to feel the vibrations through his limbs. This wasn’t brute force, this was something else entirely! It felt so centralized, so focused, yet very destructive and powerful! And yet he still couldn’t sense much from her. Oh how she never ceases to intrigue him. He wanted to see more, feel more, experience more! Surely their game would last forever!

He watched as her glowing open hand went for his face and was surprised that she stopped right before making contact. He grabbed her wrist and squeezed hard with a frown. “You hesitated.” With a powerful ki blast to her abdomen he sent her flying into the water.

Breaking the surface, “Are you kidding me!” she shouted, wet once again but at least no sand this time. Grumbling to herself, she simply lay floating atop the surface, wondering how the hell to go about dealing with Cell. She knew he was riling her up, but why the hell was she so angry and giving in to his taunts? What the hell was going on? What the hell was wrong with her? Yeah she was upset, but she didn’t understand why she was so reactive. She would normally just tell him to fuck off and not give him the pleasure but right now she just wanted to punch a giant hole through his face.

Not wanting to wait, he flew over to where she was drifting along the water. “I hope you’re planning your next move because I don’t take too kindly to you making me wait.” His brow twitched as she flipped him off but before he could do or say anything else, she yelped and disappeared into the water.

That was… unusual. He could sense her below him in the water along with the smallest rise in her energy. It was almost as if she were fighting something. He looked on as a giant glowing ring started to form along the water’s surface followed by a powerful ki blast erupting through with a giant pillar of water, illuminating the area. In the glow of her blast, he saw something. Or at least he thought he did. It was nothing but a split-second blur. He simply dismissed it as something insignificant as his attention was brought back to his Saiyan, having emerged from the dissipating light and water column heaving and gasping for air.

“Quite the show, if I do say so myself,” he flew to her.

“This,” she breathed heavily, air settling back into her lungs, “was you, wasn’t it?”

He chuckled, “While I do love to be the object of your anger my dear, this was not me.”

She looked around, not taking too kindly to having been pulled underwater by her tail. “There was someone in the water.”

Cell thought back to that blur he had seen in the water column and wondered…

There were many odd things happening on this night.

He watched as she flew back to the shore, following shortly after, and plopped down on the sand. There was a small silence before she spoke up.

“I don’t know why you’re suddenly so interested in a fight, but I can’t give you the fight you want right now.”

He looked down at her from where he stood. After what he had witnessed earlier, along with their short melee, he begged to differ. “Oh? But I believe you can.”

“Then how about this, I can’t give you a proper fight right now, but surely with some time I can give you something to be mildly impressed by… or further disappointed. Either or. You’re basically my teacher after all.”

He studied her intently. Did she not know? Was she not aware of what she had done? Of what just happened? All the signs pointed to a no. But if she was proposing a future battle, of course he would accept.

“Very well. You _will_ give me what I want.”

She waved him off dismissively, “Sure, whenever that may be.”

Leaning back to lay down on the sand, she suddenly felt a giant wave of exhaustion hit her before everything went dark.

* * *

When she came back to, her mind was groggy and she could feel something on her abdomen. Looking down, she was surprised to see Sora sprawled over her.

Wait- Sora? Where was she? Was she back on her bed back at the residence? She could see a junior dangling off the bed and a mound of blue on the floor. Yeah she was definitely back. But when did that happen? And how long had she been out? It was daytime now. Last thing she remembered was being on that beach with Cell before feeling absolutely exhausted.

“Momma?” she heard Sora stir before poking his head up to look at her.

She smiled at his tired eyes and messy bed hair as he repositioned himself to lay on her chest. She ran her fingers through his hair, kissing his forehead while trying to stifle a laugh at her child telling her he was hungry. Of course.

The rest of the day progressed so unusually normal that Dani could have sworn she was stuck in some alternate universe. She was more so convinced when Cell decided to grace them with his presence and not act like a complete ass.

Sora immediately appeared in her arms staring at Cell. The last time they had seen each other was during the incident with Vegeta.

Cell chuckled, crossing his arms and staring back at the child that carried his DNA. “I’ve no business with you today boy.”

Dani sighed, patting Sora on his back. “It’s ok, go play,” she assured. With one final look, Sora returned to where he and the juniors were roughhousing below the cliff while Dani ‘supervised’ from up top.

“I see you’re finally more decent.”

“I see you’re still staring,” she yawned, hands on her hips. As much as she enjoyed the comfort of wearing as little clothes as possible, she actually felt like going into town and that would bode better in her current attire of the black long-sleeved croptop and the loose fitting grey training pants she secured up with a yellow sash. But damn Cell just had to say the word and she would gladly strip if it meant making him uncomfortable, probably one of the only things she had over the gentleman in him.

Closing his eyes not about to have his patience tested, he brushed off her words. “Why didn’t the boy fend off his abductor last night?”

She stared straight ahead and slowly nodded, having wondered the same thing but having forgotten to talk to Sora about it. There were a million ways that Sora would call out to her. The way in which he called out to her was not the same in which he called out to Cell when Vegeta had a hold on him. Sora had sounded scared then. But last night, it sounded as if he were simply calling out for her to pick him up which made her wonder if Sora didn’t feel threatened at all by their late-night visitor.

“Most unusual but something that will not be repeated,” he spoke in that arrogance of his.

“Oh yeah? Sure about that?” she crossed her arms and gave him a doubtful look. The juniors had been right outside the cabin and they didn’t sense anything either. If they were essentially perfect copies of Cell, she was most certain he wouldn’t have been able to sense anything either. He had been so proud of their creation during his stupid tournament that she knew he couldn’t shit on them now without inadvertently shitting on himself.

“You question my perfect being?”

“Perfect being, huh?” she kicked some dirt, pondering the concept. “Your perfection can kiss my ass. There is no such thing as perfect in this world, your Saiyan cells should at least tell you that. To be perfect is to be unable to improve any further, and apparently that’s a big no-no for us Saiyans that _love_ to get stronger.”

He was facing her now, eyes staring intently. She simply smirked and continued on.

“Perfection doesn’t exist because it’s a simple subjective idea. It’s an illusion. You are only as perfect as the one who designed you. Your obsession in living up to your design’s expectations is a flaw in your so-called perfection. You lack free will. Nothing you do is to _you_. Everything you say and do is the will of a salty old man that lost to a Saiyan child almost twenty years ago.”

His hand was on her neck within the instant. When she found herself in the center of a newly formed crater, she gripped at his hand and kept her feet pressed against his chest and side of his face while he continued to push her further into the rock until the cliff was nearly leveled.

“You keep running your mouth despite the many acts of leniency I have had towards you,” he pushed her further down.

“Oh forgive me o’merciful one for not giving a damn!” she spat.

They were too busy displaying their mutual dislike for one another that they were both completely unaware that they had visitors in their presence.

“Is this how the beings of this planet interact?”

“This is barely foreplay!” Dani shouted.

Cell squeezed her neck harder until they both realized they had a guest… A guest neither had detected.

Letting each other go, Cell straightened up and eyed their company while Dani was still lying on the ground rubbing her neck. “Jesus fuck did your hand get bigger? I swear it feels bigger,” she sat up before a thought crossed her mind. “Wait where’s Sora?” Why could she feel him and the juniors back at the cabin?

Cell gave her a quick glance, also having taken notice that he had yet to feel the explosive little wrath of his creation. His juniors weren’t around either. Odd. But not as odd as their three guests here before him.

He didn’t like the fact that he was snuck up on and he didn’t like the fact that he couldn’t sense much out of them. They appeared like ordinary humans but something told him otherwise. They weren’t humans. And they weren’t from Earth.

“You should consider yourself lucky I have not obliterated you on the spot.”

Dani having finally gotten up, got a good look at their visitors. It was three men all with fairly dark complexions. The way the one in the middle stood ahead of the other two made her think he was the leader of sorts. They all wore foreign yet elegant looking clothing and Dani couldn’t help but notice how the leader’s dark long hair contrasted with his golden eyes that appeared as bright as the sun. “Oh wow you’re gorgeous,” she blurted before slapping her hands over her mouth.

The man in question smiled at her before looking at Cell.

“I am both righteously lucky and honored, but not by you android.”

Cell’s eyes narrowed while Dani was trying to figure out what in the holy hell was going on.

“After so long, I can’t believe the fates would ultimately lead me here to you,” he put his hand on his chest while looking at Dani longingly.

She was still so confused and was wondering if Cell had actually choked her out and that this was all just some dream or hallucination. Her attention snapped and she staggered back as he suddenly appeared in front of her and took her hand with the slightest bow. The two other men also bowed.

“I am beyond elated that I have finally found you, my Saiyan queen.”

“What?!” Both Dani and Cell uttered.

Just what the hell was going on??

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that we're all caught up. Appreciate any feedback!


End file.
